At Families Joined by Love, we take pride in providing a variety of resources and services for LGBT parents (lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender), their families, and the professionals who serve this rapidly growing community. Laurie Wallmark, our founder, has over fifteen years of experience in the literary field and is pleased to bring her expertise to such an important audience. We promise not only the highest level of professionalism and personal service, but also the widest selection of resources containing the most accurate and up-to-date information possible.

We provide information on a wide array of topics on LGBT parenting and family life. At our bookstore, you will find books covering every stage of child development, from infancy through adolescence and beyond. We also offer an extensive selection of titles pertaining to the unique legal and financial issues LGBT individuals face. Finally, we provide a wide range of resources for members of the professional community, including scholarly texts on homosexuality and relationships as well as guides for social workers and adoption professionals.

Laurie has personally selected and organized these books into categories, making it easy to find resources appropriate to your needs. Parenting issues, international adoption, domestic adoption, surrogacy, donor insemination, pregnancy, legal and financial issues, and dealing with prejudice are but a few of the topics you will find covered in our bookstore. We offer books for adults and children of all ages, genders, orientations, and backgrounds.

We believe we have created one of the most extensive online resource hubs available for LGBT individuals and their families. In the future, we plan to expand the site to include not only books and media resources, but also other community features designed to help LGBT families connect with one another and with competent professionals. We hope that Families Joined by Love will stand at the forefront of America's newest social revolution, and provide valuable guidance for LGBT individuals looking to expand their families for many years to come.

Here at Families Joined by Love, we thrive on feedback from our customers. We encourage you to contact us with any questions or suggestions you may have. If you search for a particular item and cannot find it, or feel that another category of resources should appear on our website, please let us know. Our ability to serve you and your family depends on active feedback from members of the community.

From our family to yours, welcome, and enjoy your visit.

Take care,

Families Joined by Love got its start in 1992 as a second niche area for Laurie, who at that time still led her original company, Tapestry Books. As founder and President of Tapestry, Laurie gained tremendous expertise in all aspects of domestic and international adoption, and became a phenomenal resource for prospective parents looking to open their hearts to children in need. Herself a parent of two adult children, Laurie brings both professional knowledge and parental perspective to her leadership of Families Joined by Love.

When Laurie published the original "Joined by Love" mail-order catalog for LGBT families, she found very few book titles appropriate to the needs of the LGBT community. This shortage of resources, combined with much lower household use of Internet technology, made expansion of the company difficult. Consequently, "Joined by Love" lay dormant for several years. Fifteen years passed, and as civil union cases and LGBT adoption stories consistently made headlines, Laurie recognized that the LGBT community had become much more visible and eager for educational materials.

Initially, Laurie reincarnated Families Joined by Love as an affiliate to another bookstore. After a few months' trial period, it became clear that demand for these unique resources exceeded the bounds of mere bookselling. Laurie teamed up with Tapestry consultant and public policy professional Xan Nowakowski to launch the current version of Families Joined by Love. Xan provided expertise in communications and policy to complement Laurie's extensive knowledge of family-building issues and the bookselling industry.