1. Do I have to be in the New Haven/New England area to participate?
No, you do not have to be in the New England area to participate! We are happy to arrange to travel to you. For instance, the Yale Gay Fathers Project will be in the Boston, San Francisco, Detroit and Chicago areas in the coming months. If you would like to arrange for the Project to come to you, please email the Primary Investigator, Erin Burke, at erin.e.burke@yale.edu.
2. I am single. Can I participate in the project?
Unfortunately, we are only accepting couples. This is because we are controlling for the hormonal changes that occur when two people are in a relationship.
3. My partner and I do not have children. Would our participation by useful to the study?
Yes! We are looking for couples both with AND without children who would like to participate. Couples without children will serve as the control group in the study against which the fathers will be compared.
4. I am a father, but am not biologically related to my children. Can I still participate?
Absolutely! We are happy to have participants who have created their families in any way: adoption, surrogacy, foster fathers, stepfathers, etc. All are welcome!
5. I am HIV positive. Can I participate in the project?
Unfortunately, our lab is not rated to work with or store human samples that may contain pathogens. Because the project is collecting blood, this means that we cannot accept samples from participants that may contain a virus, such as HIV. This also means that we cannot accept participants with other blood borne pathogens, like hepatitis.
6. Why are trans* fathers excluded from participating?
The Yale Gay Fathers Project prides itself on expanding the contemporary definition of “family” in the United States and in that spirit, does not work to be arbitrarily exclusionary. It is not possible to include trans* people because of the way in which we are measuring the physiological changes fathers go through, and that is through measuring hormone levels. Testosterone (among other hormones) is the main hormone of interest for the study, and therefore it would not make sense to measure the hormone levels of those individuals who are on hormone therapy (though we understand that not all trans* people are necessarily on exogenous hormones or taking androgen blockers).
7. My organization is interested in becoming involved with the project. Whom should we contact?
If your organization is interested in becoming involved with the project, please contact the Primary Investigator, Erin Burke, at erin.e.burke@yale.edu. We are happy to arrange talks, participant recruitment or other activities with your organization.