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Drawing on interviews with LGBT identified parents, this paper explores how anticipated stigma shapes the process of having children for LGBT families. Although other work has explored the potential stigma and discrimination embedded in the process of having children for LGBT prospective parents, this paper focuses specifically on how families anticipate potential issues that might come up in the future in relation to maintaining parent rights and custody of children in the future. Respondents felt that both their LGBT identities and use of “non-conventional” means for having children, such as adoption and ART left them vulnerable to discrimination. Their concerns were built on a number of factors including: (1) Rapidly changing laws and legal contexts (both progressive and regressive) for LGBT families and families with children acquired through ART or adoption; (2) Differences in legal contexts between local, state and national levels; and (3) the broad influence of heteronormativity and the cultural importance of blood ties embedded in law and society. These concerns shaped a number of prospective parenting practices including: method for acquiring children; who, if anyone, among couples carried or provided biological material, selecting gamete donors and surrogates, adoption criteria, and legal interventions taken. Overall, respondents made family building decisions by anticipating how their choices would affect their vulnerability to legal issues in the future.