What Financial Planning Looks Like for L.G.B.T.Q. People
The family receives financial support from Claire’s parents, who helped cover living expenses when Carla took off a year and a half during the pandemic to care for Linus. They also helped pay off Carla’s student loans. Carla has had a different experience with her parents. They have not given her the same level of support, and she believes they have iced her out because she is a lesbian.
“Back in the ’90s when I came out, it was so much different, and it seemed like it was still OK to not be OK with having a child who’s gay,” Carla said, adding, “They didn’t even offer to give any money for our wedding.”
Linus was born in 2018, and the couple estimate they spent $7,000 on six vials of sperm, a few hundred dollars on fertility testing and $250 to $500 (with insurance) on each of their three pregnancy attempts. They were unable to save ahead of time and used credit cards throughout the process.
Still, the Shermans got pregnant relatively cheaply through intrauterine insemination, which is usually the first and least expensive stop in assisted reproduction. With insurance, the birth was another $12,000 in out-of-pocket costs.
Source: The New York Times
