We hold support group meetings in Edinburgh every month. Thinking of coming along? [more]

Are you from Glasgow or the West of Scotland?
GDS support group meetings are no longer held in Glasgow, as there were latterly insufficient numbers attending to give a balance of mutual support. However, please think about coming to an Edinburgh meeting as these are held in a venue close to the bus and railway stations and finish about 10pm, so that some visitors from the west can still have time to travel home. However, we realise that that it not so easy if you live in Ayrshire! Our best advice, if you can't make it to a meeting, is to contact either:

The Steve Retson Project in Glasgow and ask for their counselling service. Their counselling service provides a confidential service on issues such as sexuality, relationship issues, employment and so on. This service is open to all gay and bisexual men, and men who are questioning their sexuality. The direct line telephone line is 0141 211 8628. Weblink: www.steveretsonproject.org.uk

The Strathclyde Lesbian and Gay Switchboard. They offer telephone support on a range of issues including sexuality, relationships, sexual well-being and coming out. They can give you advice on safer sex and information on social organisations, support groups, housing, legal issues, employment and the local gay “scene”. If they can't give you the information ourselves, they can recommend other organisations which may be able to help you. They also run Icebreakers, a monthly social event on the first Sunday of every month. Telephone 0141 847 0447, every night from 7pm to 10pm. Weblink: www.sgls.co.uk

Are you from the Highlands or Grampian?
We have members who sometimes travel from Aberdeen and Inverness to meeting in Edinburgh. Closer to home, there are Terence Higgins Trust operations in Inverness and Aberdeen and we have heard recent good reports of the Inverness THT being of help when contacted by a gay dad.

Highlands:
www.tht.org.uk/howwecanhelpyou/ourservices/browseallservices/highland/
Grampian:
www.tht.org.uk/howwecanhelpyou/ourservices/browseallservices/grampian/

The classy Gay Dads Scotland publicity banner has been at every Pride Scotia in Edinburgh and Glasgow since 2000. It was out again this year in Edinburgh on 27 June. [more]

Scottish Television broadcast a documentary about gay life in Scotland in October. It included these interviews with some gay dads from GDS.
"In 1998, I was sitting on my own thinking there must be other gay fathers out there and I phoned One Parent Families Scotland and they gave me the number of the only other gay father they knew. They said they didn't have a Lesbian Fathers Group, they had a Lesbian Mothers Group. Well I thought you'd be going some to have a Lesbian Fathers Group! But they gave me Dirk's number and"...[more]

Harry Peters of GDS was interviewed by Gary Robertson on BBC Radio Scotland. Harry tells his story here.
I was 37 when I decided to do something about my sexuality. A late starter perhaps, but at least I was going to prove to myself once and for all that I was not gay - only "curious". After all being gay was something that happened to someone else and gay men were not meant to be fathers were they?...[more]

Making babies the gay way – the last taboo
by Nigel Cooper. A Channel 4 documentary ... [more]

Study: Teens adjust well with gay parents
Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network ...
[more]

Lesbian and Gay Parenting
Like families headed by heterosexual parents, lesbian and gay parents and their children are a diverse group. Unlike heterosexual parents and their children, however, lesbian and gay parents and their children are often subject to prejudice because of sexual orientation...[more]

Children of LGBT parents
Research studies from Britain and the USA confirm the obvious - our children are no more likely to confused about their gender identity, to come out as gay or lesbian, to behave differently than expected for their gender, to have behaviour problems or psychiatric disorders or to develop in abnormal or unusual ways...[more]