'Their reality is as normal as anyone else's,' say lesbian moms raising two children in Coral Gables

BY STEVE ROTHAUS, srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

When Andrea Askowitz met Victoria Azpurua four years ago, they realized they were a perfect match. Askowitz, then 38, had a young daughter, wanted more children but not another pregnancy.

Azpurua had just ended a relationship with a woman who didn’t want kids. At 39, Azpurua’s biological clock was ticking and then came Askowitz, who still had 8 of 10 vials of sperm unused after she conceived Natasha.

“It all came together,” recalls Azpurua, a Catholic, Venezuelan-born financial advisor. “Two months after dating, she said, ‘I have sperm.’ I said, ‘Whoa, you’re going too fast. We’re just dating.’ But after two months I said yes. I fell in love with her daughter, I got pregnant at 40 and had the baby at 41.

Azpurua’s son Sebastian, now 2, and Natasha, now 7, are half-siblings — same sperm donor, different biological moms — being raised in one Coral Gables family.

“Their reality is as normal as anyone else’s,” said Askowitz, the Jewish, Miami-born author of My Miserable, Lonely, Lesbian Pregnancy and co-producer of Lip Service, a quarterly true-stories reading series.

Recently, Natasha asked Mommy Andrea what she would talk about at an upcoming Lip Service. “I told her Mamí Vicki and I have a different idea of what Miami was like. When I first moved here I said no one would care who was gay. She said, ‘We’re gay right?’ I said, ‘No, I’m gay because I love a woman. She said, ‘Who cares about that? I said I don’t know. It was perfect 7-year-old logic.”

Sebastian is still in daycare. Natasha goes to Sunset Elementary in South Miami. She’s not the only student there with same-sex parents.

“In Natasha’s classroom, there are three [families] including us. “There’s another mom-and-mom family with an active gay dad. A two-dad family. And us. I said, “What, that’s crazy,’” said Askowitz, who at first thought the school intentionally grouped all the gay families together. “I thought they did it on purpose, but her teacher didn’t think so.”

Comments

[Andrea Askowitz]

Thank you Steve, what a sweet article.
Love,
Andrea

[Steve Rothaus]

Andrea, thanks!

[Maria Elena]

Thanks Steve for validating these families and sharing their story as part of reality norm.

We should see more stories like this one more often. It's good for all families and their children.
Maria Elena