Amid babies galore I’m a Childless Gay Aunt. I could not be happier | Rebecca Shaw

Closely allied to Guncles, the CGA is progressive, fun, cosmopolitan. She has all the streaming services

I'm not sure how it happened but there has been a huge explosion in the number of babies around me. One minute my friends and I were all at the pub having too many beers for a Thursday evening and the next a flock of storks descended upon us. Everywhere I turn there is a friend announcing pregnancy, or a friend bedridden with pregnancy vomiting, or me, a regular person, vomiting when someone posts one of those 3D ultrasounds of their baby (sorry, they're haunting and I'm scared), or a baby's first birthday or a brand new baby to visit. It's babies galore and I could not be happier. Not only are children cute but with each infant brought into my life I can more deeply inhabit the life role I have been granted. I am a Childless Gay Aunt.

Let me run you through what I mean - I am gay, I am childless and I am an aunt. It's important to note here that when I talk about being an aunt, I don't just mean children I am related to by blood. Being queer and building community means forming special bonds with your friends (even the straight ones), establishing friendships that are like family, reinforcing the love, care and support that you choose to give, and hopefully seeing it last the coming decades.