typ-of-fai~Amerin Amy of Pediatrics (AAP) discs adoptn to gay and lbian dividual or fay hoeholds.
Contents:
- STRAIGHT PARENTS – AND THE GAY CHILD THEY LOVE!
- STRAIGHT PARENTS/GAY CHILDREN: KEEPG FAI TOGETHER
- PARENTS OF GAY CHILDREN AND THE ISSU THEY FACE
- STRAIGHT PARENTS, GAY CHILDREN
- PARENTG A GAY CHILD
- GAY PARENTS RAISG KIDS: HOW WILL THEY FARE?
- ADULT CHILDREN OF GAY AND LBIAN PARENTS: RELIGN AND THE PARENT-CHILD RELATNSHIP
- WHERE WE STAND: GAY AND LBIAN PARENTS
STRAIGHT PARENTS – AND THE GAY CHILD THEY LOVE!
Strategi for Keepg Your Fay Together When a Gay Child "Com-Out" * straight parents gay children *
And the ways anti-LGBTQ laws harm the kids specifilly are a gapg hole our natnal nversatn about the impact of legislatn like Florida’s recently implemented Parental Rights Edutn law — what crics have lled the “Don’t Say Gay” law — which lims discsn of LGBTQ issu krgarten through the third the dghter of a gay man, I am vastated to image what would have been like to keep my father’s inty a secret at school.
STRAIGHT PARENTS/GAY CHILDREN: KEEPG FAI TOGETHER
Parents of gay children may go through an adjtment perd when they fd out their child is gay, but there is support for parents of gay children. * straight parents gay children *
The days, gay parents are no novelty: We see them strollg through our neighborhoods, participatg our PTA meetgs, and, perhaps most notably, appearg on our TV screens: Mchell and Cam, fathers to Lily, on the ratgs smash Morn Fay; Glee’s Sue Sylvter, expectant mom to a baby nceived wh an as-yet-unrevealed sperm donor, and Rachel’s dads, played wh humor and grace by Jeff Goldblum and Brian Stok. Though this media mastreamifitn of gay parentg is a relatively new phenomenon, for s, gay parents have had children all sorts of fay nfiguratns—whether through adoptn, prev heterosexual relatnships, or, creasgly, by choosg to have blogil offsprg g vro, surrogate, and other methods.
PARENTS OF GAY CHILDREN AND THE ISSU THEY FACE
The days, gay parents are no novelty. * straight parents gay children *
In fact, one prehensive study of children raised by lbian mothers or gay fathers nclud that children raised by same-sex parents did not differ om other children terms of emotnal functng, sexual orientatn, stigmatizatn, genr role behavr, behavral adjtment, genr inty, learng and gra pot averag. Though many fay relatnships may be plex, explag fay relatnships is uniquely plex for lbian and gay parented fai bee of the lack of societal norms and relevant exampl media, stereotyped notns about such relatnships that are mon, and the fear of discrimatn faced by the fai. Competent parentg may be fluenced by gay and lbian parents’ abily to accept and acknowledge their inty and how they are able to negotiate livg a heterosexist, homophobic, or otherwise discrimatory society, while rearg their children a fay un that is not socially sanctned.
STRAIGHT PARENTS, GAY CHILDREN
Published fal eded form as:PMCID: PMC4250972NIHMSID: NIHMS611632AbstractPrev scholars have explored var challeng facg children of gay and lbian dividuals, and some have explored the impact of a parent’s sexual orientatn on the parent-child relatnship.
PARENTG A GAY CHILD
The followg them emerged om phenomenologil analysis of the terviews: (a) fay break-up more difficult than the parents’ g out; (b) disvery that parent was gay or lbian; (c) ial shame over havg gay or lbian parent; (d) posive aspects of havg a gay or lbian parent; (e) refed relatnship wh relign; and (f) impact of culture on how gay and lbian dividuals are viewed. Over the years, rearchers have started to vtigate the perspectiv of adult children who have been raised by gay and lbian parents (Bailey, Bobrow, Wolfe, & Mikach, 1995; Tasker & Golombok, 1995), and the foc has moved beyond explorg stigma to unrstandg their long-term experienc greater pth (Goldberg, 2007a, 2007b) children may have been raised by an tact gay or lbian uple sce fancy, but others may have to balance relatnships wh both gay and heterosexual parents. The may be children who were origally born to a heterosexual relatnship which one parent me out later the children’s liv, or rarer s children who were ially part of a fay led by a gay or lbian uple and mt pe wh fay disptn when one parent enters to a heterosexual relatnship.
GAY PARENTS RAISG KIDS: HOW WILL THEY FARE?
Relign is also likely to impact the relatnships between children and their gay or lbian parent, but to date this has not been majory of lerature addrsg relign and sexual mory dividuals, regardls of their parentg stat, has foced on relig stigma.
ADULT CHILDREN OF GAY AND LBIAN PARENTS: RELIGN AND THE PARENT-CHILD RELATNSHIP
Conversely, when dividuals and fai are able to rolve the apparent nflict between acceptg a gay or lbian fay member and relig homonegative msag, the out n eventually be more posive (Lease & Shulman, 2003) discsed below, the impact on fai occurs over time, and relatnships wh the fay as well as wh their relign may change as children are able to reflect on their experienc and mature themselv. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to exame the perceived role of relign over time the parent-child relatnships of adult children wh a gay or lbian parent and a heterosexual Out to ChildrenWhen gay and lbian parents e out after they have tablished fai a heterosexual relatnship, the g out procs affects the entire fay (Armto, 2002; Beeler & DiProva, 1999; Bozett, 1980; Van Voorhis & McCla, 1997). In addn, fai often create their own l about discsg homosexualy and/or may experience negative emotns followg the g out procs (Beeler & DiProva, 1999), Gillis, and Cogan (2009) found that gay, lbian, and bisexual dividuals who were more relig had higher sr on the Revised Internalized Homophobia Sle (IHP-R), suggtg that ternalized heterosexism or self-stigma was posively related to relig-based homonegative msag.
Acrdg to Goldberg (2007a), adult children of gay and lbian parents were more aware of heterocentrism and homonegativy after their parent me out to them, and reported that their psychologil wellbeg may be ed as a gge by society to terme the aptns of gay and lbian parentg. Fai of Gay and Lbian IndividualsRearchers started explorg the psychologil and emotnal well beg as well as genr inty velopment of children wh gay and lbian parents the 1970s, and they have sce foced on breakg down stereotyp that gay and lbian parents are unf (Patterson, 2005; Tasker & Golombok, 1995).
WHERE WE STAND: GAY AND LBIAN PARENTS
Fay members of gays and lbians are often aware of heterosexism society as well as their own heterosexual privilege; therefore, many may choose to fight agast homonegativy and to support equal rights for gay, lbian, bisexual, and transgenr (GLBT) dividuals (Arm et al., 2009; Goldberg, 2007a). However, as a rult of her own personal experienc and over 50 terviews wh children wh a GLBT parents, Garner emphasized the importance of personal stori unterg homonegative myths, and further noted the risks of non-disclosure on the parent-child relatnship. Siarly, Beeler and DiProva (1999) found that fay members not only have a fdg out story but also have their own g out procs as the relative of a gay and lbian recently scholars have started to explore the fluence of relign the procs of fay members acceptg or rejectg their gay and lbian relativ (Lease et al., 2005).
Although some rearch ntu to be biased by the assumptn that gay and lbian dividuals have to choose between beg relig and acceptg their non-heterosexual inty, other vtigatns have begun to exame the rporatn of both inti (Barret & Barzan, 1996; Buchanan, Dzelme, Harris, & Hecker, 2001). Lease and Shulman (2003) reported that although fay members of gay and lbian dividuals may e relign to impe their relatnships wh their gay and lbian relativ, many are also able to expand their the views of an acceptg and lovg y to one who would accept their gay or lbian relative.
Over time, fay members of gay and lbian dividuals may experience gnive dissonance between their posive perceptn of their own gay or lbian relativ wh the religly-based homonegative msag they receive, and their relatnships may be termed based on their abily to rolve this dissonance.