SARASOTA – “We often say it was a dream actualized, it was a dream come true for us,” said Robby Price.
In July 2016, After a 21-month surrogacy journey, Jordan and Robby welcomed Kellan Letschert-Price into the world.
He was the first at All Children’s Hospital to be born through surrogacy of a same-sex male couple.
“Being able to hold him for the first time, and taking our first family photo, just in the operating room, I often talk about the movie, the Grinch, because in that movie, the Grinch’s heart grows three times and in the days after that I literally felt, and I think he felt the same, my heart felt bigger, much more full of love,” said Price.
But following Kellan’s birth, the couple say they faced unspoken pressure.
“Everyone is looking at you and how you are doing, and we’re going to be part of setting the tone of yes, same sex parents can be great parents,” said Project Pride SRQ President, Jordan Letschert.
Now Kellan, who is almost 5, calls Jordan ‘papa’ and Robby, ‘dada’. He’s never known anything else, but other kids in his class are curious.
“One of the girls in his class, whose mom was also on the field trip, she said ‘Kellan why do you have two dads?’ and before I could even answer she said because he’s so lucky and that was it, and no other questions or answers were needed,” said Letschert.
And diversity has always been a core focus in raising their son.
“If you can show diversity, at a younger age then hopefully we have good big humans when they’re older,” said Letschert.
Jordan and Robby want to share their story to highlight the domino effect they have on society as a whole and to let other struggling same sex couples know they are not alone.
“Visibility creates a conversation, and that conversation creates more inclusivity and it lets people understand each other more, for me I think the more that we can do this in our community,” said Letschert.
