Inclus a summary of rearch fdgs on lbian mothers, gay fathers and their children, an annotated biblgraphy of the published psychologil lerature and addnal rourc relevant to lbian and gay parentg.
Contents:
- ‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD
- LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG
- HOW DO YOU RELATE TO A GAY FAY MEMBER?
- KIDS CAN THRIVE WH GAY PARENTS
‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD
For lbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgenr people, realizg their sexual orientatn or genr inty and sharg that rmatn wh fay * gay experience with family *
At the same time, Midwterners are more likely than those livg any other regn to say there is some acceptance their muny of LGBT dividuals (52% of gay men and lbians livg the Midwt say this, pared wh 35% or ls of those livg the Northeast, South or Wt). LGBT adults who say there is a lot of acceptance of people who are lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr their cy or town are much more likely to say this is an important reason why they live there than are those who say there is ltle or no acceptance of the LGBT populatn their muny. Gay men and lbians wh a llege gree are more likely than those who have not pleted llege to say the level of social acceptance their cy or town is one reason for livg there (49% of llege graduat say this is a major or mor reason, pared wh 35% of non-llege graduat).
Perhaps ’s worth potg out that there are zero lbian rorts the Caribbean, or anywhere, and the few gay properti ter to difference between the adults-only (party wh iends) rort Punta Cana and the upl’ (romance) rort Jamai wasn’t obv to me until I experienced : Everythg was tailored for a man and a woman. The prev edn, which was tled Lbian and Gay Parentg: A Rource for Psychologists (1995) was the succsor to a publitn tled Lbian Parents and Their Children: A Rource Paper for Psychologists that was jotly produced by CLGBC and CWP 1991.
Unlike heterosexual parents and their children, however, lbian and gay parents and their children are often subject to prejudice bee of their sexual orientatn that n turn judg, legislators, profsnals, and the public agast them, sometim rultg negative out, such as loss of physil ctody, rtrictns on visatn, and prohibns agast adoptn (ACLU Lbian and Gay Rights Project, 2002; Appell, 2003; Patterson, Fulcher, & Waright, 2002). As this summary will show, the rults of existg rearch parg lbian and gay parents to heterosexual parents and children of lbian and gay parents to children of heterosexual parents are que clear: Common stereotyp are not supported by the data. The relevance of this cricism has been greatly rced as rearch has expand to explore life a wir array of lbian mother and gay father fai (many of which have never lived through the divorce of a heterosexual uple), and as newer studi beg to clu a wir array of ntrol groups.
LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG
* gay experience with family *
Other cricisms have been that most studi have been based on relatively small sampl, that there have been difficulti wh asssment procr employed some studi, and that the classifitn of parents as lbian, gay, or heterosexual has been problematic.
HOW DO YOU RELATE TO A GAY FAY MEMBER?
APA rolutns and rmatn regardg LGBT issu such as sexual orientatn and marriage, child ctody or placement, transgenr issu, genr inty and genr exprsn nondiscrimatn, amic briefs and lbian and gay parentg. * gay experience with family *
An expert readg of the Sarantakos article reveals that certa characteristics of s methodology and sample are highly likely to have skewed the rults and renred them an valid ditor of the well-beg of children raised by gay and lbian parents at least three rpects:.
KIDS CAN THRIVE WH GAY PARENTS
The children raised by gay and lbian parents experienced unually high levels of extreme social ostracism and overt hostily om other children and parents, which probably acunted for the former's lower levels of teractn and social tegratn wh peers (see pp. Some nonscientific anizatns have attempted to nvce urts that there is an actual scientific dispute this area by cg rearch performed by Pl Cameron as supportg the existence of fics gay and lbian parents or their children pared to heterosexual parents or their children. Three ncerns have historilly been associated wh judicial cisn makg ctody ligatn and public polici erng foster re and adoptn: the belief that lbians and gay men are mentally ill, that lbians are ls maternal than heterosexual women, and that lbians' and gay men's relatnships wh sexual partners leave ltle time for ongog parent-child teractns (ACLU Lbian and Gay Rights Project, 2002; Falk, 1989, 1994; Patterson et al., 2002; Patterson & Reddg, 1996).
Many years ago, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn removed "homosexualy" om s list of mental disorrs, statg that "homosexualy per se impli no impairment judgment, stabily, reliabily, or general social or votnal pabili" (Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, 1974). In 1975, the Amerin Psychologil Associatn took the same posn and urged all mental health profsnals to help dispel the stigma of mental illns that had long been associated wh homosexual orientatn (Amerin Psychologil Associatn, 1975).
The cisn to remove homosexual orientatn om the list of mental disorrs reflects extensive rearch nducted over three s showg that homosexual orientatn is not a psychologil maladjtment (Gonsrek, 1991; Hart, Roback, Ttler, Wez, Walston, & McKee, 1978; Reiss, 1980).