
The Proud Parent Club
The Proud Parent Club is the inclusive podcast and community for LGBTQ+ parents and future LGBT parents. Sanjay Sood-Smith (he/him) is joined by different guests each week to discuss all aspects of family building and LGBT parenting for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer people. Sanjay and his husband Doug (a.k.a The Travelling Gays on Instagram) became parents through through surrogacy and before starting their journey spent a lot of time researching the different ways that LGBTQ+ people become parents and these will be explored by talking to experts and people from across the LGBTQ+ community who have taken different routes to becoming parents including adoption, surrogacy in different countries, co-parenting, IUI, IVF, reciprocal IVF, solo-parenting and having children before coming out. The Proud Parent Club will also explore what happens when a child arrives arrives, the experiences of being parents, the highs, the lows, the challenges of being an LGBT parent and shared wisdom of how these are overcome. The experiences of LGBT parenting are unique and no topic is off limits to help us find our way - whether you are already a parent, soon to be one or just thinking about the process there will be something here for you.
Podcasting since 2022 • 15 episodes
The Proud Parent Club
Latest Episodes
E14: Adopting our baby through concurrent planning: Mike and Paul Campbell-Jennings
On this episode Sanjay is joined by Mike and Paul Campbell-Jennings, gay dads to Roman through adoption. Mike and Paul met by chance on the street and decided to build their family through the adoption process. We talk about the hig...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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35:05

E13: Building community for LGBT families and ensuring everyone is included in the battle for equality: Laura-Rose, LGBT Mummies
This week Sanj is joined by Laura-Rose Thorogood, founder of LGBT Mummies organisation and mum of three with her wife. LGBT Mummies purpose is to support LGBT+ women & people globally on the path to motherhood or parenthood.They p...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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36:04

E12: Our friend offered to be our surrogate in the UK but our embryos were in the USA: Stuart & Francis
This week Sanjay chats to Stuart and Francis Armfield-Haugen, gay dads through surrogacy to their son Rio. They started their journey to becoming parents through surrogacy in the USA which is where they made their embryos. Then thei...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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50:57

E11: Having a newborn in a pandemic, choosing a sperm donor and managing mental health as a parent: Jules and Kath
On this week's episode Sanjay chats to wives Jules and Kath who are mums to two children by IVF, each carrying once. We chat about their experiences of IVF, how they chose a sperm donor, being pregnant in a pandemic, micro-agressions as t...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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45:49

E10: Talking to my husband about our journey to being gay dads through surrogacy: The Travelling Gays
This week Sanjay is joined by his husband Doug the other half of @thetravellinggays! We talk all about our journey to becoming gay dads through surrogacy and our life as parents by answering questions crowdsourced from Instagram. We...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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32:12
