A Gay Man’s Guide to Announcing Your Pregnancy

When you’re announcing your pregnancy to the world, especially in the digital age, it’s critical that you have one perfect photo to break the news on social media. Luckily, there are hundreds of options to explore. Just type “Pregnancy Announcement” into Pinterest or Google and you’ll have enough creative inspiration to last you a lifetime.

Unless you’re a gay man. Then you’re screwed.

To put things into perspective, I was able to find two solid examples of pregnancy announcements on the World Wide Web featuring gay men, 20 featuring lesbians, and roughly 50,000+ for heterosexuals. Seriously? Where are all the great gay male pregnancy announcements? Why aren’t these handsome couples shouting their news from the rooftops? And if they are simply taking a more private approach, why the hell aren’t they sharing them with me in my time of need?

Well because I’m not feeling the love in this particular pre-parenting milestone, I’m giving back to the community with A Gay Man’s Guide to Announcing Your Pregnancy!

You’re welcome, community.

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Option 1: Focus on the Feet

The traditional pregnancy photo is the belly shot. But neither of you are carrying the child(ren). So instead of focusing on the belly, I’d recommend you leverage other parts of the body, like your hands or feet.

My husband and I decided to take the feet approach when announcing our twins, purchasing these adorable Converse Chuck Taylor All Star High Tops in both blue and pink. We wanted a shot of us holding hands with tiny shoes hanging from our fingers. With palm trees in the background, it felt like the perfect way to feature us and our new home (Los Angeles, California) without pulling the focus away from the little children-to-be.

Alternative options:

• Because the shoes are so damn tiny, fitting them in the palm of your hand for a cute aerial shot.
• You can also try lining them up with other adult-sized Converse, shooting them straight on or from above. Your first “family” photo!

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Option 2: Utterly Ultrasound

You might not have a uterus, but the baby (or babies) being carried are, in fact, yours. So either avoid this option completely – which we decided to do – or own it and use that ultrasound just like all our straight brothers and sisters do.

My favorite options include:

• Both men hold either side of the ultrasound and stand with their arms stretched out towards the camera. The camera focuses in on the ultrasound so that the couple is blurred slightly in the background.
• Frame the ultrasound and lay it out on a textured surface. Bring the scene to life with baby toys, shoes, or adorable infant clothes.
• Create a baby-themed collage on a corkboard, with the ultrasound at the very center. Purchasing congratulations cards and making “It’s A Boy!” or “It’s A Girl!” signs will help the image pop.

Pro Tip: Ask your surrogate first before displaying a photo of her womb to the world. And either way, ask a digitally savvy friend to erase her name, birth date and location off the images.

Option 3: Kill ‘em with Comedy

Let’s be honest, pregnancy photo shoots are ridiculous. So have fun with the fact that you’re hacking the traditional pregnancy and poke fun at the lack of oven for the bun(s).

I’ve seen straight couples play up the “beer belly” angle, so that’s an easy option for you to steal. You can also poke fun at the lack of a woman entirely, and create an oven-themed post with bread sitting inside. And if you want to be really playful with your announcement, try capturing the moment when you learned that you were pregnant.

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Whatever you decide to do, make sure it represents you as a couple. Just like with a wedding, you want people to walk away feeling like they know a little more about you. You want your pictures to stand out in a sea of ultrasounds, so dig deep and make sure it screams you and partner.

And if you’re looking for more inspiration than this, I’ve done the hard work for you and created this Pregnancy Announcement board on Pinterest.

Until next time, stay crafty.