The Queer Family Podcast – LGBTQ Families & Queer Parenting Stories · Jaimie Kelton – Queer Parenting & LGBTQ Families'.

What the New LGBTQ+ Study Really Says—And Why It Matters for Queer Families With Orion Rummler (The 19th) & Pew’s Rachel Minkin

·59 min·3 clips

Orion says anti-trans policy is really about enforcing traditional ideas about gender and sex across the whole community.

1. The Queer Family Podcast episode centers on Pew Research Center’s new LGBTQ study and what it says about acceptance, family-building, and policy pressure in 2025. 2. Jamie is joined by Orion Rummler, an out trans journalist covering LGBTQ+ news for The 19th, and Rachel Minkin, a research associate at Pew Research Center and gay mom. 3. The conversation asks what the Pew study was designed to measure and why its findings matter for queer families right now. 4. Rachel says Pew had not done a major survey of LGBT Americans since 2013, and the new project was timed to the 10-year anniversary of Obergefell v. Hodges. 5. Rachel says the study included a nationally representative survey of just under 4,000 LGBTQ adults. 6. Rachel says Pew also conducted 30 interviews with same-sex parents, split between 15 men and 15 women. 7. The survey looked at coming out, social acceptance, family and friend support, discrimination, community connections, and hopes for the future. 8. Jamie notes that the report was roughly 50 pages and focused on differences between gay or lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and non-binary respondents. 9. Rachel says 61% of LGBTQ adults see at least a fair amount of acceptance for gay or lesbian people, while 52% say the same for bisexual people. 10. Rachel says the numbers fall to 13% for transgender people and 14% for non-binary people. 11. Rachel says majorities think there is more acceptance today than 10 years ago, and majorities expect more acceptance over the next 10 years. 12. Orion links the study to queer family life by pointing to insurance companies that still deny IVF coverage to queer couples. 13. Orion says queer parents often rely on friends, parents, and chosen family when a baby arrives or when childcare gets hard. 14. Rachel says interview participants described friends bringing supplies and parents helping with childcare after returning to work. 15. The guests discuss education and income patterns among same-sex couples, including Rachel’s point that gay couples, especially two men, often show higher income and more education. 16. Jamie and Orion connect those patterns to career planning, resource-hoarding, and the need to have “every duck in a row” before building a family. 17. Orion describes reporting for KFF News on trans men carrying pregnancies, including COVID-era pregnancies, misgendering in hospitals, and one patient being denied pain medication. 18. Orion says some trans men experienced no dysphoria during pregnancy and, in some cases, felt more alive while carrying a child. 19. The episode’s tone is conversational and interview-driven, with live-studio energy, personal stories, and repeated back-and-forth between Jamie, Orion, and Rachel. 20. People interested in LGBTQ family data and policy will get the most from it, while listeners wanting a light, purely anecdotal chat may skip it.

As heard by us

A warm, politically aware conversation that makes the numbers feel personal.

These hosts turn a study on acceptance, marriage equality, and the uneven reception of different LGBTQ identities into something grounded and easy to follow.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play for a queer-family read on polling, marriage equality, and where public opinion seems to be moving.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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