VALUING OUR FAMILIES 2007 Saturday & Sunday March 24-25 Ft. Lauderdale Florida

The Gay and Lesbian Community Center of South Florida is hosting a special program about biological parenting for gay men. The program 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 Circle Surrogacy and Connecticut Fertility Associates, two organizations that have been helping gay couples and singles to have children through surrogacy and /or IVF for more than a decade. Also co-sponsoring is SunServe /Valuing Our Families Conference, March 24-25 Ft. Lauderdale Florida.

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 co-sponsors:

"The Gay & Lesbian Community Center of South Florida(GLCCSF) is an organizing force within the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community, serving as a source for information, education, advocacy and support. The Center works to foster the personal development and quality of life of the community it serves, as well as to increase understanding and acceptance within the greater South Florida community. The GLCCSF currently serves over 15,000 Adults and Youth in Broward. Dade, and Palm Beach Counties.

"Circle Surrogacy is a full service gay owned and gay focused surrogate-parenting agency. Since 1995, Circle Surrogacy has helped bring to the world almost 200 babies. Its dedicated staff of professionals 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 to suit its clients’ unique family choices."

"Connecticut Fertility Associates (CFA) provides fertility testing and treatments that have enabled thousands of their patients to conceive and carry healthy babies. CFA provides diagnosis and treatment of all conditions related to fertility and miscarriage, such as ovulation disorders including polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS); anatomical problems such as scar tissue, endometriosis and fibroids; male infertility; and even unexplained infertility. Treatment options include fertility medications; artificial insemination (IUI); laser laparoscopy, hysteroscopy and microsurgical procedures; as well as in vitro fertilization (IVF), including donor eggs and surrogacy. CFA’s strength lies in balancing the simplest approaches for some, with the most advanced treatments for others, and in listening to their patients when deciding which approach is right to achieve their goal of getting pregnant."

"Sunshine Social Services, Inc. (SunServe) Recognizing that everyone has the right for quality services and care, our mission is to reach out to those in need with an emphasis on the economically disadvantaged, and marginalized youth, senior adults, and people of differing abilities and life changing health conditions in the greater South Florida metropolitan area.

The annual Valuing Our Families conference (VOF 2007) is a weekend full of events for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (glbt) youth, families, partners and parents, allies and friends at the Sunshine Cathedral MCC, Easterlin Park and First Congregational Church of Fort Lauderdale. Designed for all who value the LGBT contribution to the American family in all its diversity and held in the Spring of each year, this innovative annual conference proudly raises up our own family values for all to see, whether it is our family of origin, our partners and children, or the deep and familial bonds of friendship that is often so powerfully supportive in the gay community. We honor those who value our families in their many forms, who advocate for our families and who celebrate the values that make our families strong in the midst of adversity of all kinds.

  About the panelists:

• Dr. Michael Doyle
  As the founder of Connecticut Fertility Associates, Dr. Doyle has practiced Reproductive Medicine in Connecticut since after completing his advanced fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology at Yale University in 1991. The CFA medical team has helped over 3,500 couples (including numerous gay couples) achieve their dream of having a baby. Dr. Doyle’s patients consistently praise him as a highly skilled expert who balances his skill with a caring, compassionate approach.
   
• John Weltman, Esq.
  John Weltman is a partner in the law firm of Lawson & Weitzen, LLP, in Boston and the president and owner of Circle Surrogacy. Ltd., a full service surrogate-parenting agency he established 11 years ago. John was the first to establish the right of couples to get insurance coverage for gestational surrogacy in Massachusetts, 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 24 years (now husband!) are each biological fathers through the same surrogate mom of their two children, Zachary and Kyle, ages 12 and 11. John was educated at Yale, Oxford and the University of Virginia.
   
• Elizabeth Schwartz , Esq.
  Elizabeth Schwartz established her solo law practice in 2001 and is entering her second decade as an attorney. Liz’s practice focuses on representing the gay community in family formation and she lectures locally and nationally about the importance of gay couples protecting their loved ones through estate planning and contract. Also a certified family mediator, her firm treats the law as a therapeutic profession, helping clients protect their families and facilitating relationship dissolution with minimal investment of emotional and financial resources. She is the Co-Chair of the National Center for Lesbian Rights National Family Law Advisory Council and the Miami Beach Bar Association. A native of Miami Beach, she received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. She received her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Miami, in 1997. She and her partner, Lydia Martin and their dog, Buttercup, live in downtown Miami's urban core.