Lbian and gay parentg: Theoretil and nceptual examatns

Contents:

• LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND QUEER MUNY
• SOCLOGY: STUDY EXAM GENR ROL OF CHILDREN WH GAY PARENTS

LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG

In recent s, social acceptance of lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) people has grown (Loft, 2001; Flor, 2014), and legal barriers to relatnship regnn and parenthood have erod (Moore & Stambolis-Ruhstorfer, 2013), most dramatilly wh the 2015 U.

Some have argued that the fay liv of LGBT people are begng to look a lot more “nventnal” (Nardi, 1999), wh upl settlg to domticy and formg nuclear fai, which some have crilly referred to as homonormativy (Duggan, 2003; Valver, 2006). Although recent poll data suggt that opposn to homosexualy and same-sex relatnships has softened recent years (Hull, 2015, 2016; McCarthy, 2017; Pew Rearch Center, 2017), poll data on such issu mt be terpreted wh utn (Coffman, Coffman, & Ericson, 2017), and many Amerins still hold the view that same-sex relatnships and gay and lbian parentg do not meet the fn of fay (Becker & Todd, 2013; Powell, 2014; Powell, Bolzendahl, Geist, & Steelman, 2010) rearch on LGBT experienc and nceptns of fay has foced on several key issu, cludg LGBT people’s relatnships wh their fai of orig, the formatn of fai of choice that emphasize iendship over blood and legal ti, and the legal and cultural obstacl facg same-sex relatnships and parentg by LGBT people.

But this queer-liberal narrative…pruppos accs to cultural and enomic pal and is much better sued to the liv of middle-class gays and lbians than to lower-e people of lor who have, by choice or necsy, pursued different fay formatns. (2010) (see also Powell, 2014; Powell et al., 2012), toward clnist mols of fay that emphasize functn over study sought to exame whether the creasg promence of same-sex marriage and the growth gay and lbian parentg has ed LGBT people to shift toward more tradnal fay fns.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND QUEER MUNY

But, this study’s fdgs do not support the ia that trends toward same-sex marriage and gay and lbian parentg have led LGBT people to retreat om fg fay as chosen; rather, appears that LGBT people rema the vanguard of a broar social trend toward more expansive fay other ways, LGBT fns of fay are surprisgly nventnal. The ntued softeng of attus toward homosexualy has almost certaly rced tensns between LGBT people and their blegal fai, leadg to a greater willgns among LGBT people to clu fay of orig and extend fay both abstract fns of fay and ncrete intifitns of current fay.

Some of the possible reasons for such differenc have already been discsed; the broar pot is that socially patterned diversy likely exists wh the LGBT populatn terms of both fg fay the abstract and intifyg particular kds of people as current study’s fdgs do not offer much support for queer criqu of the mastream gay rights movement that assert that the movement’s recent foc on marriage and parentg has driven queer people toward more heteronormative ways of fg and dog fay. The rearch was nducted a mid-sized Midwtern metropolan area and clud many rponnts who do not live the urban re, thereby reprentg the experienc and sights of LGBT people not clud past studi nducted “gay mecs” like San Francis, New York, and Los Angel.

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).

SOCLOGY: STUDY EXAM GENR ROL OF CHILDREN WH GAY PARENTS

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. 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.

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:.

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).