Lbian and gay parentg: Theoretil and nceptual examatns

Contents:

• LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG
• THE CHALLENG OF BEG A GAY DAD
• GAY PARENTS IN ATRALIA NOW ELIGIBLE FOR PAID PARENTAL LEAVE, SAME RIGHTS AS HETEROSEXUALS

LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG

Such arguments are not based on a prehensive asssment of the evince for this claim and are ually rmed by relig or iologil beliefs about what nstut a rearch paper scrib the diverse characteristics of same-sex parented fai Atralia, their support needs and experienc, and the challeng they may face given the stigma and discrimatn often attached to homosexualy and enuntered by some same-sex upl. In this report, "same-sex parented fai" is ed when the pot beg ma is relevant to all non-heterosexual fai, and "lbian-parented" or "gay-parented" when the pot relat to fai head by female and male same-sex upl or sole parents, is also important to note that "lbian" and "gay" are not universally ed as self-scriptors by women and men who are parentg the ntext of a same-sex relatnship or inty.

Consirably more bisexual men than gay men the study reported havg children (40% vs 11%), wh bisexual men also more likely than bisexual women (40% vs 25%) to report havg parented fai are characteristilly diverse wh regard to mo of nceptn or fay formatn, and fay stcture (see Anrssen, Aie, & Ytteroy, 2002; Biblarz & Savci, 2010; Gunn & Surte, 2009; Power et al., 2010; Tasker & Patterson, 2007; Weeks et al., 2001). Further to this, and for a range of reasons, very few Atralian children bee available for adoptn beyond their fai of orig (see Higgs, 2012) Work, Love and Play study (Power et al., 2010) of 445 Atralian and New Zealanr lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) parents is the largt this untry unrtaken to date and found there are six major fay typ:a two-parent same-sex uple-based fay;fai which a lbian uple were the primary parents but a known sperm donor lived separately and had volvement the children's liv;fai which a lbian or gay man were still -parentg wh an ex-heterosexual partner;separated same-sex fai where women or men were -parentg wh their ex-same-sex partner;sole parent fai; andmulti-parent fai, ually a gay male uple and a lbian uple raisg children together om birth across two hoeholds.

Children may have been nceived the ntext of prev heterosexual relatnships, or raised om birth by a -parentg gay or lbian uple or sgle tentnally planned lbian or gay parented fai, is mon for children to be nceived through assisted reproductive technologi (ART) such as donor sematn (DI), -vro fertilizatn (IVF) and surrogacy. Women's fathers, brothers and heterosexual or gay male iends are known to be valued as "male role mols" for children, due to lbian parents' sire for children to have accs to diverse adult male and female social works (Borthwick & Bloch, 1993; Gartrell et al., 1996; Goldberg & Allen, 2007; Wakelg & Bradstock, 1995) msag: Lbian-parented faiLbian -parentg upl tend to divi their hoehold labour and child re rponsibili more equably than heterosexual upl.

THE CHALLENG OF BEG A GAY DAD

Fai parented by gay menFai parented by gay menGay fatherhood rearch prr to the late 1990s tend to be US-based and emphasised the experienc of divorced gay fathers who had had children heterosexual marriag, mostly wh regard to issu associated wh disclosg their gay relatnships or inty to children, and their perceptns of children's adjtment to their homosexualy (see Barret & Robson, 2000; Bigner & Bozett, 1990; Bozett, 1987; Miller, 1979).

Atralian gay men's history of volvement known sperm donatn for lbian iends and acquatanc dat om at least the 1980s (see Borthwick & Bloch, 1993; Dempsey, 2005; van Reyk, 1995; Wakelg & Bradstock, 1995) and some men have veloped paternal or parental relatnships wh children nceived this way (see Dempsey, 2010, 2012a, 2012b; van Reyk, 2004). In the Work, Love and Play study (Power, Perlz, McNair et al., 2012), of the 88 gay and bisexual men who scribed themselv as "actively volved" parentg a child, 39% had bee parents a prev heterosexual relatnship, 23% were parentg children nceived through surrogacy wh their male partners, 19% had bee parents through known sperm donatn to lbian upl or sgl, and 11% were foster parents or permanent rers.

GAY PARENTS IN ATRALIA NOW ELIGIBLE FOR PAID PARENTAL LEAVE, SAME RIGHTS AS HETEROSEXUALS

Although there are far fewer studi to date of -parentg gay male upl or sgle parent fai than planned lbian-parented fai, ditns are the way two men parent together is closer to lbian upl and heterosexual women's approach than the greater tachment om children's daily re characteristic of fathers nventnal nuclear fai (Schacher, Auerbach, & Silverste, 2005; Biblarz & Stacey, 2010; Mallon, 2004; Stacey, 2006). It is also apparent that havg children is a great source of personal fulfillment and pri for gay men, that brgs wh greater nnectedns to their own parents and other members of their fay of orig (Tuazon-McCheyne, 2010; Bergman et al., 2010; Power, Perlz, McNair et al., 2012) msag: Fai parented by gay menGay men's pathways to planned parenthood are more rtricted Atralia than the US and UK due to their abily to adopt children and the prohibn on mercial surrogacy. Although there are far fewer studi to date of -parentg gay male upl or sgle parent fai than planned lbian-parented fai, ditns are that two men parentg together have more equable divisns of domtic and parental labour than exists heterosexual uple fai; however some studi have not taken soc-enomic differenc to male parentg has also been lked to higher self-teem for the men volved than that of their childls gay male peers, and improved social and emotnal relatnships wh their fai of orig.

In the fal sectn of this part of the report The New Fay Stctur Study published the US 2012 is discsed, given this is the only study to date reportg harms to children raised same-sex parented and fay relatnshipsChildren lbian- and gay-parented fai generally report harmon relatnships wh their parents, whether or not they were born to heterosexual uple parents who subsequently divorced, or the ntext of a planned same-sex fay (Brewaeys et al.

In rpons to their ventory of parentg practic, the thors found the gay fathers were more rponsive to their children's needs than the heterosexual fathers, and reported more e of reasong strategi wh is some suggtn that children raised om fancy by lbian upl the UK may be more likely than children of heterosexual upl to experience their parents' separatn (MacCallum & Golombok, 2004).

Amato (2012) ed poted out that if there were noteworthy harms accg to children rultg om parental homosexualy per se, which is often the ncern of those scholars who cricise rearch signs and methodology, the would be revealed rearch on high soc-enomic, ethnilly homogeno sampl of parents and randomly sampled natnally reprentative data projects now clu qutns that enable the intifitn of gay, lbian and bisexual rponnts.

Allen and Burrell, 1996 and aga 2002, found no statistil differenc between the lbian- or gay- and heterosexual-parented children on any measur wh regard to children's psychologil adjtment, whether the data clud was based on parents' reports, teachers' reports of children's behavur, or reports om the children themselv.