Chelsea Austin and Kevin Montgomery on Self Worth & Queer Parenting

"[Chelsea] really wanted to to help people understand about their own self-worth and how to navigate more easily through this kind of crazy thing called life," Montgomery tells Sonia Baghdady of Advocate Now, adding, "I was just so proud of her."

Montgomery raised Austin with his partner in the 1990s, at a time where gay couples were not as normalized — particularly gay parents. While they faced some backlash along their journey, Montgomery says that the challenges they overcame were the some of the same confronting straight parents.

"We didn't have anyone really modeling for us how it would work for two guys raising a daughter. So it was we felt a little bit like pioneering out there, but it also felt very normal," he says. "It felt very just like every other family. We had the same issues as every other straight family."

To Austin, having two dads "was absolutely vital in shaping my self-worth, because my parents were so cool and proud of who they were."

"It showed me and modeled for me that I can be proud of who I am, no matter who I love, who I'm close to, what I want to do with my life and they really fostered that self-worth and self-confidence in me," she explains. "Even though I'm a cis straight woman, I got that feeling anyway that I could just be whoever I wanted to be because I saw that modeled for me so consistently."

Now that she's expecting her first child, Austin says she'll be relying on her Dad and Daddy as grandparents, while also using some of the important lessons they taught her growing up.

"The most important thing I learned from my dad and my daddy was unconditional love and being there for your child," she says, adding, "If you show up for your kid and let them know that you're there for them, that's really all that matters."