Episode 5: Dennis Williams

We live with secrets. This statement seems almost counterintuitive given the very public nature of our world today. On Instagram, we can see what our friends had for lunch and where they are going on vacation. On The Real Housewives, we can watch pretend rich women live out glamorous and totally frivolous lives. On TMZ we can get the minute-by-second detail of celebrities’ arrests and public foibles. And yet, the most intimate parts of our lives, our truths, exist within silos sometimes hidden from ourselves. 

Dennis Williams breaks open a lot of taboos in our conversation about his journey as a single, black, gay man navigating through IVF and Assisted Reproductive Strategies to become a father. With a startling clarity of thought, he takes us through the maze of doctor visits, legal de-entanglements, and identifying of egg donors and surrogates to achieve his dream. Along the journey with him, he asks us to explore how we define our own worth and what parental and societal expectations we wrestle with on a daily basis. He asks us to reimagine and expand our thoughts of what a family is and with whom and how we create our families. 

In a poignant plea, he asks us to open the channels of empathy within ourselves for each other, for this is the way we build true sisterhood and brotherhood. This is how we create humanity. How we literally create humanity. And in the face of uncertainty and heartbreak, keep knocking on the doors, because on the other side is your son. Also check out his updates on fatherhood and his life with his son Elan on ABC’s The Parent Test.