View this post on Instagram
Meet Jake & Sean Taylor-Bauman, a married couple of Salt Lake City realtors. After surviving a Mormon upbringing, Grindr dates and trying to change their sexuality, the pair just welcomed triplets, born via surrogate.
Jake and Sean met nine years ago on Grindr, and though they felt attracted to each other, decided to focus on changing their sexualities. Both grew up in strict Mormon households that taught homosexuality is wrong. They’d hoped with each other’s help, they could “pray the gay away.”
“I knew that I was gay from a very young age and was so terrified of that temptation and ‘acting on those feelings,'” Jake told The Daily Mail. “When Sean and I met on Grindr, we had never come out to anyone in real life.”
“We were on the app with secret aliases and met up with the intention to help each other through the gay thing,” he added. “We thought if we found understanding wives, we would be able to make life within the church work. Quickly, we realized that our friendship was more than that and we fell in love pretty fast becoming each other’s very first boyfriends.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Getting their families to accept the relationship wasn’t exactly easy, either. “Initially it was tough for our families when we came out to them,” Jake added. “Luckily, they are incredible people and could see how truly happy we were finding each other. It didn’t take long for them to embrace what they didn’t understand and accept our authentic selves.”
Related: Gay Dad Has Message For Dolce & Gabbana: Surrogacy Creates Loving, Well-Adjusted Children
Jake & Sean finally married in 2016 and immediately wanted to have children. An early surrogacy resulted in a miscarriage, which struck a terrible emotional blow to the couple. They ended up switching surrogates and decided to implant two embryos just in case. Then, in a twist, one split: they ended up with triplets, two girls and a boy.
Wren, Willow and Winston Taylor-Bauman arrived on January 23, 2021…just over three weeks early.
“They came early at 32 weeks and so spent their first twenty-three days of life in the hospital,” Jake explained. “It was honestly so surreal seeing our babies for the first time. It was such a high-risk pregnancy that we had so much anxiety and worry. When we saw their little faces we were overwhelmed with emotion and tears of joy.”
Naturally, Jake and Sean have lost out on a lot of sleep since.
“Night one was pretty tough, but luckily they are so damn cute,” Jake recalled. “By the time we finished feeding, changing, and burping, there was only about an hour to nap before starting all over again.”
“There’s really nothing that prepares you for this experience,” he added. “We told ourselves we knew this would be hard, but it’s definitely harder than we even imagined. The biggest advice we have received and can give regarding multiples is to stick to a schedule. When one wakes up to eat we wake them all up. It’s the only way we can have at least a semblance of normality in our schedule.”
“All that being said,” he continued, “it has been so worth it. All the years planning, money spent, the terrible miscarriage we went through, and now the sleepless nights. We’ve definitely been learning patience because everything takes triple the time and it’s ok to slow down the pace a bit. We’ve learned to enjoy the little moments and to be more present. Our hearts are bursting with love for each one of them. We wouldn’t change a thing.”
What an adorable family.
With more and more gay couples marrying, surrogacy remains a much-discussed, if cost restrictive, procedure. Sean & Jake Taylor-Bauman spent upwards of $100,000 on the surrogacy of their triplets. They’re lucky the kids are cute!
cuteguy
May God bless them and their growing family. Beautiful story
Monkey1
“Sean & Jake Taylor-Bauman spent upwards of $100,000 on the surrogacy of their triplets. They’re lucky the kids are cute!”
Really, Queerty??
Heywood Jablowme
If you spend $100,000 on babies they damn well better be cute or you can return them for a refund! It was probably in the contract, since they’re realtors. 🙂
Openminded
Glad to see someone else picked up on that unnecessarily rude comment.
The whole damn family is cute, though.
Cam
@Monkey1
It’s amazing that after you’ve been busted multiple times trolling then having your other screenames come on to compliment your posts that you’re still trying it. This post isn’t even political and yet you STILL felt you had to switch over to the “@openminded” screename to back it up?
Wow.
ingyaom
I love this strategy – going on a gay hookup app to meet other gays to try to escape being gay.
Manray
Me too. “Let’s hook up so we can figure out how to not be gay” and then the rest is history.
JB
The one guy is sitting around with massive holes in all of his jeans. They mustn’t be very successful realtors if he can’t afford to buy new pants.
linedrive
Get off my lawn!
Catholicslutbox
That poor surrogate. Nothing could’ve prepared her for that.
…Winston? Winston?! Seriously?
Openminded
Yeah, I’m predicting a lot of tongue tied responses when they start yelling out the kids by name.
Essie
Good luck with THREE! Hopefully, all the Grands are onboard and helping.
Chrisk
Funny that there are 100, 000 kids waiting to be adopted too. I guess pound puppies are cuter though.
GayEGO
Wonderful! I was brought up as a Mormon in Idaho in the 1940s and 1950s. I knew I liked boys and we “fooled around” back then. I disagreed with the Mormon church and left it. Went into the Navy, came out and met my partner in 1962. We got married in 2004 in Massachusetts. We worked, paid our taxes and bills, retired and lived the American dream. This is how it should be!
BoylesqueBubble
Surviving an oppressive religion, David is a helluva lot different then having children you have wanted. Such a sh*tty headline, David! No wonder you’re still single!
Res1
I hope their don’t stumble upon David’s adults videos when they come of age. The bullies will not be kind. That’s why you have to think about your future and your kids future.
Openminded
I’m assuming the David you are referring to is the article writer, David Reddish. What would his alleged adult video history have to do with these triplets future? Am I missing something here?
Cam
Congratulations to the new family! But……They’re still sticking with the story that they went on Grindr to find a supportive friend? Come on guys, you’re out now, you can drop that story. lol