The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

Jeff Lutes is a psychotherapist, author, public speaker and the principal consultant for ContemporaryCouples.com. He lives in Austin, Texas, where he has maintained a private practice since 1988. Jeff has co-authored a chapter for the Handbook of LGBT-Affirmative Couple and Family Therapy (Routledge Press); written a children’s book about diverse families called Okin the Panda Bear Finds his Family (Creative House International Press), and regularly writes about the issues pertinent to same-sex couples and families at Bilerico.com. He has presented workshops at the annual conventions of both the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and the American Counseling Association (ACA). In addition to the ACA, Jeff is also a member of the International Association for Relationship Research (IARR), the Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Issues in Counseling (ALGBTIC), and the Council on Contemporary Families (CCF). He has served on numerous committees, including the Forum on the Military Chaplaincy, the board of directors for Out Youth, and the LGBTQQIA Affirmative Counseling and Social Justice Committee.

From 2006 through 2009, Jeff served as the Executive Director of Soulforce - the national social justice organization committed to ending the religion-based oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. During his tenure he organized large national actions, managed the launch of the young adult program and the first three Equality Rides, and created several booklets and videos including the popular What the Science Says - and Doesn't Say - About Homosexuality: Research-based answers to ten of the most commonly asked questions about lesbian women, gay men, and their families.

Jeff and his partner, Gary Stein, met in 1997 and are the proud fathers of three children they adopted as a couple. Gary and two of the children are deaf. American Sign Language is the primary mode of communication in their home.