We are family: Taiwanese gay fathers’ strategic normalisation decision-making in transnational reproduction

Abstract

ABSTRACT Taiwanese gay men have been seeking transnational assisted reproductive technologies and surrogacy to become fathers. Due to legal restrictions in Taiwan, overseas reproduction is the only legal way for them to have children. This study explores gay fathers’ reproductive strategies and rationales. The data came from in-depth interviews with 53 gay fathers and participant observation with an LGBTQ + family association. I analysed data thematically with the sociological approach ‘reproduction as a lens’ to elucidate how social norms influence gay men’s reproductive perceptions and practices and what social changes they brought to the understanding of family-making. The results show that gay fathers were aware of the ideal family model in heteronormative society, and they established strategies to justify their decision-making and make sense of their family-making. They shaped their gay fatherhood by affirming their decision to use third-party reproduction, deciding who would be the sperm provider, and selecting ovum donors with specific attributes. They also reconsidered the meaning of relatedness by embodying innovative ways of making kinship. This article argues that Taiwanese gay men became fathers through the dynamic processes of ‘strategic normalisation’ and ‘selective differentiation’, which secured their social acceptance and demonstrated diverse pathways of queer family-making.