Please join us for the third annual informational seminar about biological parenting for gay men. The program is hosted by Center Kids, the Center's family program for LGBT parents and their children and for those considering parenthood. It will include a panel with legal medical and practical expert advice, and personal stories from parents and a surrogate.

The event is co-sponsored by Reproductive Medicine Associates of New Jersey, Circle Surrogacy and Growing Generations, organizations that have been helping gay couples and singles to have children through surrogacy and /or IVF for more than a decade.

An exhibition space will also be available with representatives from additional agencies and organizations who provide services and support for gay and lesbians who want to have babies.

About the sponsors:

"Center Kid  is the Center's family program for LGBT parents and their children and for those considering parenthood. Center Kids programs include support groups for LGBT parents and prospective parents, including "Planning Biological Parenting for Gay Men, which meets at the Center every fourth Wednesday of the month, at 6:30 PM. In addition, programs also include other parenting options support groups, such as adoption and co-parenting; trainings for teachers and school administrators; advocacy and activist efforts; support around alternative insemination and other biological parenthood options; forums on custody issues when LGBT parents separate; financial planning for alternative families; and recreational programs for children 8 and under (Halloween Parties, Holiday Parties, Play Days, etc.)."  

"The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in NYC was established in 1983, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, 208 West 13th St. in New York City, is the largest LGBT community center on the East Coast. More than 6,000 people visit the Center weekly and 300 groups meet there."

"Circle Surrogacy is the nation's oldest full service gay owned and gay focused surrogate-parenting agency, serving clients from around the USA and 25 countries worldwide. Since 1995, Circle Surrogacy has helped bring to the world over 200 babies, with unmatched success rates of close to 100% in clients becoming parents through egg donor surrogacy. Its dedicated staff of professionals in Boston, New York, Indiana, Texas and Arizona is made up of lawyers, social workers, parents through surrogacy, surrogates and past clients. Circle Surrogacy provides a choice of specialized clinics at locations throughout the country, a large selection of egg donors, swift matching with carefully screened surrogates, and a variety of flexible programs and financial options."

"Over the past decade, Reproductive Medicine Associates' founding partners and physicians have helped bring more than 15,000 babies to loving parents. Many of these new parents are gay men and lesbians. It's a record that makes RMA one of the largest and most experienced centers for reproductive medicine in the world. From options including artificial insemination and ovulation induction to more advanced procedures involving in vitro fertilization, donor egg or sperm, or gestational carriers, our medical team is able to create an individualized course of treatment to meet your needs."

"Ms. Brisman’s law practice provides assistance in locating gestational carriers (GC); negotiating and drafting GC/ovum donation/embryo donation contracts; legal issues related to same-sex GC arrangements and contracts; court orders for GC arrangements; an|d many other legal issues related to reproductive medicine. Ms. Brisman is an attorney admitted to practice in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania."

"Growing Generations is the oldest and largest surrogacy and egg donation firm dedicated exclusively to assisting the GLBT community. The agency maintains offices in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and the Ohio Valley and has assisted clients from 19 countries around the world with the creation of more than 600 babies. Founded in 1996 by gay and lesbian parents who created their families through assisted reproduction, the agency offers a compassionate, full-service approach. National recognized as a leader in assisted reproduction, Growing Generations has been honored with awards from Family Pride Coalition, American Fertility Association, and Congregation Kol Ami."

  About the panelists:

• Melissa Brisman, Esq.
  Melissa Brisman graduated valedictorian from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. Her legal practice focuses on matters related to family building and third-party reproduction options, such as gestational carriers (GC), surrogacy, and ovum, sperm and embryo donation. She is the mother of twin boys and a daughter who were delivered using a GC. Ms. Brisman has argued and won several landmark cases, and was the first attorney in NJ and Maine to obtain court orders allowing the genetic parents of children delivered by GC to go directly on the birth certificates. She also has won several important cases for many gay and lesbian couples: Lesbian partners were both named as parents on the birth certificate for their child (NJ) and a gay man was named as the only parent on the birth certificate for his twins, who were delivered using a GC (PA).
   
• John Weltman, Esq.
  John Weltman is the president and owner of Circle Surrogacy. Ltd., and a partner in the Boston law firm of Lawson & Weitzen, LLP. John was the first to establish the right of couples to get insurance coverage for gestational surrogacy in MA, and has repeatedly obtained pre-birth orders and second parent adoptions for gay couples and singles having children through surrogacy throughout the country. John and his partner of 25 years (now husband!) began their surrogacy journey in 1991 and had two boys, now 13 and 12, through the same surrogate. They were among the very first gay couples ever to have children through surrogacy and only the second to have two children with each man being a father with the same surrogate. As a widely considered expert in surrogacy for gay men John was interviewed and appeared in numerous publications, TV programs, and conferences throughout the USA, Europe, Canada, and Israel. John was educated at Yale, Oxford and the University of Virginia and holds a masters degree in history and a JD in law.
   
• Jamie L. Morris, MD, FACOG
  Dr. Morris, a board certified reproductive endocrinologist, obstetrician and gynecologist, also serves as Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Dr. Morris has been appointed to the newly created position of Clinical Supervisor of Academic Programs, Research and Third Party Reproduction at RMA. In her new position, Dr. Morris provides and oversees medical services for all donors and gestational carriers. Dr. Morris completed her fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at the University Of Washington School Of Medicine in Seattle, Washington, and her internship and residency programs at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey. Dr. Morris then joined Associates in Obstetrics and Gynecology, in Livingston, NJ, where she saw patients privately. She received her B.A. in Biomedical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and her M.D. from Heinemann University School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
   
• Stuart Miller
  Stuart Miller is the CEO of Growing Generations in California. Prior to joining the agency in 2001, he served as CEO of Bold New World, an Internet development and investment firm. Miller has a long history of professional and personal experience working on issues affecting the GLBT community including serving as Director of Public Affairs at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center where he worked from 1992-1997. Originally from Tennessee, Miller is the author of "Prayer Warriors," a memoir published in 1999 by Alyson publications. His writings have also appeared in a variety of publications including the Advocate. He is active as a donor and volunteer with local and national organizations including serving as co-chair of the board of directors of the American Fertility Association. He resides in Los Angeles with his partner, Allen. They are currently pregnant through the assistance of an egg donor and surrogate with an eagerly anticipated due date of February 25, 2008.