Through an intersectional lens, this study explores the experience of being a single gay father by choice in Israeli society, which continues to view the traditional heterosexual two-parent family as the ideal. Analysis of 15 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with single gay Israeli fathers suggests that their experiences are characterized by constant tension between their self-perceived social acceptance and sense of belonging on the one hand and their encounters with discrimination and bias on the other. The findings shed light on the ways in which the fathers’ complex experiences are shaped by the intersection between their identity as parents and their two marginalized identities: single male parents and gay fathers. These identities were found to be highly contextual and affected by macro-level factors. As the fathers cope with their environment, they develop a sense of belonging alongside a deep sense of otherness, suggesting that the sense of belonging and the sense of otherness are not binary opposites, but rather two social categories that are continually constructed through the intersection between different identities and their interaction with macro-level factors, making single gay parenthood a multidimensional experience.

This article focuses on Israeli single gay fathers, using the Stress Process Model (SPM) as a framework to investigate their fathering experiences during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Thematic analysis of 15 in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with Israeli single gay fathers during the third national lockdown revealed that their parenting experiences during the pandemic were shaped by both COVID‐related stress exposure and interpersonal resources, which the fathers viewed as interactive. These fathers described three main pandemic‐specific stressors: financial insecurity and workplace transformation, feelings of loneliness and isolation and health‐related fears. Our findings highlight the cumulative effects of these stressors on the fathers' well‐being. The fathers also described the ways in which their interpersonal resources (i.e., social networks and strengthened relationship with their children during the pandemic) facilitated their coping with the pandemic‐related stressors. The study highlights the need for social workers to recognize the emerging family forms and to broaden their approach to parents during a time of ongoing community crisis, by addressing the differential effects on parents in diverse family structures.