Sisters or Mrs.?

A married couple is proud to be expecting their first child together yet people still constantly mistake them for twins — that’s why they’re still fighting for LGBTQ+ recognition.

Whitney, 37, and Megan Bacon-Evans, 38, first connected on MySpace as teenagers did back in 2006. They chatted online for two years before finally being able to meet up in person when Whitney, originally from Kentucky, studied abroad in London.

“As soon as we locked eyes, I knew she was the one,” Megan told Jam Press.

They were officially a couple two weeks later and have been since that day. But that hasn’t stopped people from questioning their relationship.

“We are often mistaken as sisters, twins and the worst one of all – mother and daughter,” Whitney shared. “We hear it all the time, from in-person to online.

“We think people are naturally curious as they sense a deep connection between us and want to know the connection.”

But she shared that most people assume they’re anything but a couple.

“We kindly correct them and say that we are married and have been together for 16 years,” Whitney said. “We hope in correcting them that we can educate them on lesbian couples and to never assume.”

She added that it’s “rather awkward” to inform people that the person they believe to be her sister or mother is actually her wife, but the couple have been through too much together to not openly share their love.

After officially becoming a couple in 2008, the lovebirds spent four years long-distance until Whitney moved to the UK in 2012 — and the couple celebrated by joining a civil partnership, as same-sex marriage was not yet legal.

In 2017, they “upgraded” to marriage in the U.S. and decided to begin trying to have a child in 2020.

“We were excited to finally embark on our journey to become two mums, but also didn’t really know what this would entail, due to the great lack of representation,” Megan said

“There is a great lack of information as to how LGBTQ+ couples create their family. We didn’t know where to even start our baby journey and neither did our [doctor].”

After two years of research and preparation, the women began their journey with intrauterine insemination (IUI) and were excited to learn Megan was pregnant from the first round.

But their joy didn’t last.

“Unfortunately it turned out to be a chemical pregnancy and a few weeks later, Megan was sadly no longer pregnant,” Whitney shared.

The women went through two more heartbreaking, unsuccessful rounds before switching to in vitro fertilization. The second IVF round was successful.

“We are both so beyond excited,” Whitney exclaimed. “It’s the most magical feeling knowing that we will be able to meet our child in May.

“We can’t wait to be mummies and expand our family. We’ve just found out that we’re having a girl, which is very exciting!”

Although their journey has been successful, they’re not done fighting to make it easier.

“During our baby journey, we were shocked to discover barriers and discrimination in place preventing same-sex female couples from having a family,” Megan said, adding that the issues also impact anyone with a womb.

The UK-based couple have spent nearly $50,000 throughout their pregnancy journey and don’t want others to face the “unfair financial burden” — coined the “gay tax” — that many in the LGBTQ+ community and single women face to welcome a child.

That’s why they spoke about those issues in the UK Parliament for an LGBT+ Commission inquiry report last year.

In 2022, the UK government announced that they planned to remove the additional barriers to publicly funded healthcare system fertility treatments for same-sex female couples as part of their Women’s Healthcare Strategy but have yet to complete it.