Mark Brown, Director of Pace Athletics, and Shari Crandall, Associate Director of Training and Development, have a lot to say about being a parent, and, even more to say about being a parent in the LGBTQA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Questioning, Asexual/Ally) community.

These two Pace leaders discussed their stories of becoming parents and how they raise their children in an LGBTQA discussion group this past week.

Both Crandall and Brown faced many struggles in their journeys to parenthood.

Coming from the conservative state of Virginia, Brown met lots of opposition when he and his partner tried to become parents.

“I heard the word no so many times I thought it was my name,” Brown said about being turned away by adoption agencies.

But Brown and his partner never gave up.

When an adoption agency finally said yes, he had to wait 16 days before he could even bring his first son home.

Brown and his partner pushed forward and are now raising two boys.

“Something happens when you become a parent. I changed as soon as I held my two sons,” Brown said.

Crandall, too, never gave up. She and her partner explored many options.

Crandall decided to choose the in-vitro fertilization, which enabled her to carry twins. She and her partner are now raising the children together.

While support for same-sex parenting still meets resistance, statistics show increasing acceptance toward the lifestyle.

According to a Pew Research study from last year, 64 percent of Americans believe that same-sex parents are as effective as heterosexual parents, with the greatest supporters as women and millennials.

A 2014 study of same-sex families at the University of Melbourne additionally showed that children of same-sex parents have above average health and well-being, according to The Washington Post.

“We put our children in a supportive environment,” Brown said.

A report by the Williams Institute of UCLA suggests that approximately six million children in America have a parent in the LGBTQA community.

“The greater the challenge, the greater the reward when it comes to parenting,” Brown said.