Last updated June 16, 2026
At a Glance
→ Gay Parents To Be is an educational and community resource hub for LGBTQ+ family building, not a separate clinic or treatment service.
→ Connecticut-based Illume Fertility is the clinical practice behind Gay Parents To Be, delivering every aspect of fertility and family-building care for LGBTQ+ patients across the Northeast and beyond
→ Gay Parents To Be was launched in 2012 by Dr. Mark Leondires, Illume's Founder and Medical Director, after he navigated his own personal family-building journey as a gay dad.
→ The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has named Illume a Healthcare Equality Leader for eight consecutive years, making us the only freestanding fertility center in the Northeast to hold the designation.
If you've landed here, you're probably wondering about the connection between Illume Fertility and Gay Parents To Be. You may have noticed that the two share a lot of overlap, from team members to patient stories. Learn why Gay Parents To Be was created, and how both can support and empower your LGBTQ+ family-building journey.
In This Article
Gay Parents To Be is a free, public educational resource hub and community built specifically for LGBTQ+ people who are thinking about, planning, or actively pursuing parenthood.
The site houses a Resource Center, relatable family-building stories from Illume patients, and guides written for the specific decisions LGBTQ+ parents face: matching with a gestational carrier, choosing an agency, navigating the legal side of surrogacy, deciding between known and anonymous sperm donors, and more.
What Gay Parents To Be is not is a separate fertility clinic, treatment program, or service pathway. The resource hub exists to inform and connect. Every clinical service it references is provided by Illume Fertility.
Dr. Mark Leondires founded Illume Fertility in 2002 and went on to launch Gay Parents To Be in 2012 after noticing a real gap in LGBTQ+ fertility and family-building resources.
As a reproductive endocrinologist who worked inside a fertility clinic every day, Dr. Leondires still struggled to find clear answers when he and his husband Greg started trying to expand their family. If a board-certified reproductive endocrinologist was getting stuck, he reasoned, most prospective LGBTQ+ parents were probably hitting the same wall.
So he built the resource he wished he'd had access to. Today, Dr. Leondires and his husband are proud dads to two children through egg donation and surrogacy, and both continue to advocate for more inclusive access to family-building care.
Think of it this way: Gay Parents To Be helps you understand your options, hear from other families who have walked a similar path, and figure out what questions to ask. Illume Fertility is where you receive your fertility evaluation, clinical support, treatment, and follow-up care.
Some people spend months reading through Gay Parents To Be's resources before ever booking a consult. Others come straight to Illume after a provider referral and discover the hub later. However you've found us, we're glad you're here!
When an LGBTQ+ patient becomes part of the Illume Fertility practice, they have the same access as any other patient, but with additional support. This includes:
There are many different pathways to LGBTQ+ parenthood. The right one for you simply depends on the makeup of your family unit and what your goals are.
Every LGBTQ+ family-building path also involves specialized mental health support and referrals to expert reproductive attorneys, both to protect parental rights and to make sure your future child's legal standing is secure from day one.
In addition, Illume has strong, longstanding relationships with top surrogacy agencies and donor banks, as well as in-house genetic counseling for intended parents.
One of the best ways for LGBTQ+ patients to find high-quality care is the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Healthcare Equality Index, the only national benchmarking tool that evaluates how healthcare organizations treat LGBTQ+ patients, visitors, and employees.
Patients seeking affirming healthcare providers can search for LGBTQ-friendly facilities through their Healthcare Facilities Search tool.
For eight consecutive years, Illume Fertility has earned the top score (100 out of 100) and the coveted Healthcare Equality Leader designation. Illume is currently the only freestanding fertility center in the Northeast to hold HEI Leader status.
Each participating facility is scored across four categories covering nondiscrimination policies, staff training, patient services and support, and community engagement.
In practical terms, that means every Illume staff member must complete regular LGBTQ+ inclusivity and healthcare training, our policies explicitly protect LGBTQ+ patients and employees, and our patient-facing systems are designed to reflect the diverse range of families we care for.
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No. Gay Parents To Be is an educational resource hub for LGBTQ+ family building, not a clinic. It is owned and operated by Illume Fertility, the practice that provides the actual fertility evaluations, treatments, and follow-up care referenced across Gay Parents To Be's website.
Gay Parents To Be is the educational and community-facing arm of Illume Fertility. Illume's Medical Director, Dr. Mark Leondires, founded the resource hub to give LGBTQ+ prospective parents a clear starting point for research. All clinical care happens inside the Illume practice.
No. LGBTQ+ patients can come directly to Illume Fertility without ever visiting the Gay Parents To Be website. The hub is a free resource, not a referral pathway or a required step.
Illume Fertility has five offices across Connecticut and New York: Norwalk, Stamford, Danbury, and Trumbull in Connecticut, and Harrison in New York. LGBTQ+ patients are welcome to receive care at any location.
Illume offers the full range of LGBTQ+ family-building options, including IUI, IVF, reciprocal IVF, donor conception (egg, sperm, or embryo), and gestational surrogacy.
Fertility preservation is also available for trans and nonbinary patients who want to keep future family-building options open.
Yes. Illume Fertility has been named a Healthcare Equality Leader by the Human Rights Campaign for eight consecutive years, the top designation in the HRC Healthcare Equality Index. Every staff member completes LGBTQ+ inclusivity training, and the practice is currently the only freestanding fertility center in the Northeast to hold the designation.
Gay Parents To Be was originally created by Dr. Mark Leondires, the Founder and Medical Director of Illume Fertility. He launched the hub after navigating his own family-building journey as a gay dad and recognizing how difficult it was for LGBTQ+ prospective parents to find clear, medically-accurate, trustworthy information.
If you are early in your research, Gay Parents To Be is a great place to read, watch, and orient yourself. If you are ready to talk to a fertility specialist about your options, your timeline, or your budget, Illume Fertility is where that conversation happens.
You can schedule a consultation at any of our five Connecticut and New York offices, and our New Patient Liaison team will reach out within 48 hours to help you take the next step.
We look forward to caring for you and your family!