Mona & Nicole

Mona (she)

Nicole (she)

Margot July (she, 24 years old)

Simon (he, 22 years old)

Region: Montreal
lesbian parenting, sperm bank, home insemination, trans child

Nicole and Mona are pioneers in LGBT+ family rights. Their children were conceived through home inseminations at a time when lesbians did not have access to fertility clinics. In addition to being part of a lesbian parented family, the moms, who believed they had two sons, finally learned that they had a son and a daughter when Margot July came out as trans.

When Mona was pregnant, same-sex parenting was not yet legally recognized in Quebec, so neither was Nicole’s parental status. After a five-year court battle, Nicole’s parental status was finally legally recognized, and this battle encouraged the Quebec government to legalize same-sex parenting in 2002. To procreate, as Quebec sperm banks did not allow access to lesbians or single women, Nicole was able to order, as a doctor, sperm from an American sperm bank, which enabled Mona to conceive their two children. Nicole and Mona also enabled several other lesbians to start their families by ordering and storing sperm in liquid nitrogen in their own home.

In addition to Mona and Nicole’s unique journey to parenthood, the two women are proud moms to a straight cis boy and a lesbian trans girl, making this diverse family highly sensitive to social justice. The mothers’ pride in their children is visible in the strong bonds that unite them. Now that the children are all grown up, Mona, Nicole, Margot July, and Simon see each other every weekend to share meaningful conversations and beautiful family moments. Respect is an important value that is apparent in their relationships with one another, and the mothers describe their children as being determined young adults, not easily influenced, and having thoughtfully considered views. Mona is also the founder and director of the LGBT+ Family Coalition.