Lesbian mother Kim Gyu-jin candidly shared the realistic concerns she faced during pregnancy, childbirth and raising her daughter.
Recently, a video titled "Two moms? I the birth of a family Neighbors' families" was posted on the YouTube channel 'Yeouido Yuktoe Club'
The video showed writer Kim Gyu-jin appearing on KBS's YouTube spinoff content 'Neighbors' families', revealing her daily life with her wife, their two-year-old daughter and two pet cats.
Kim Gyu-jin revealed the reasons she decided to give birth. She said, "My wife is an anesthesiologist, so she knows the pain of childbirth very well. She was so scared. She said she wasn't confident she could give birth, so since I knew nothing, I thought 'then I'll give birth' and made up my mind." She added with a laugh, "My wife's friends even said 'I wish my husband could give birth for me.'"
But the pregnancy process was not easy. Kim Gyu-jin explained that she first went to a hospital in France for sperm donation, but the waiting period was one and a half years, so she eventually went to Belgium. She said, "During that process I had to undergo psychological counseling to see if I was qualified to be a parent. I had to prepare in advance for what I would say if the child later asked, 'Why doesn't our house have a dad?'" She said she was planning to answer, "There are many homes without dads," and her wife had prepared to say, "Parents are something you cannot choose."
There were conflicts with her family during coming out and the marriage process. Kim Gyu-jin recalled, "My parents opposed it so strongly they even said they wouldn't attend the wedding. There was talk of cutting ties." But the situation changed after the child was born. She said, "After a grandchild was born, my parents contacted me first. Now the relationship has been restored faster than I wanted, to the point that I'm actually surprised."
She also spoke honestly about parenting concerns. Kim Gyu-jin confessed, "Lately my most unfamiliar worry is that my daughter seems to be heterosexual. She gets shy when she sees a handsome man." She added, "Since both of us are lesbians, we hardly ever imagined our daughter bringing a man home. I believe we should raise her without discrimination whether she is heterosexual or homosexual, but imagining it felt strange." She added, "If she goes a different way, I feel like there's less I can help with, so I have more complicated feelings."
She said she tried to raise her daughter without gender stereotypes, but her daughter's "princess preferences" were unexpected. Kim Gyu-jin said with a laugh, "I thought I raised her rolling around on dirt, not dressing her in princess clothes, but the first sentence when we entered the duty-free Hermès store was 'Buy me a bracelet, buy me a ring.'"
Meanwhile, Kim Gyu-jin is a writer and office worker who in 2019 registered a marriage with her same-sex partner Kim Se-yeon in New York, and held a wedding in Korea the same year. In 2022 she received donor sperm from an infertility clinic in Belgium and successfully became pregnant, and in 2023 she gave birth to a daughter.
[Photo] YouTube capture
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