Over the past few s the number of children growg up LGBTQ-parent fai has creased dramatilly wh the ntext of shiftg socpolil and legal climat around the world, more favourable attus toward diverse fay forms, and expand accs to assisted reproductn technology and adoptn (Goldberg & Conron, 2018). Among diverse LGBTQ-parent fay forms, lbian and gay stepfay arrangements formed post heterosexual relatnship (PHR) dissolutn likely reprent the most mon formatn (Tasker & Lavenr-Stott, 2020). Contrary to prevailg expectatns, early studi wh mothers who me out as lbians showed that they were jt as likely to have good mental health and posive relatnships wh their children as were heterosexual mothers, and that their children were no more likely to show emotnal and behavral difficulti, poor performance at school, or atypil genr role behavr than were children wh heterosexual parents (Patterson, 2017; Tasker, 2010) wh rearch on lbian stepfay arrangements, what we currently know about parentg and the adjtment of children whose parents are a sexual and/or a genr mory is still maly limed to lbian-parent fai through donor sematn (Bos & Gartrell, 2020). Planned lbian-parent fai were also created by adoptn (Farr et al., 2020), by sexual terurse wh a man who would not be a father to the child and by elective -parentg, whereby the mo...
Contents:
LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG
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. * gay or lesbian family structure *
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.
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.
LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR FAI
The issu that arise lbian- and gay-parented fai are a functn of two thgs: One is the rich variety of fay nstellatns they prise, and the other is the fact that they are livg a society which do not yet value rich variety. The tensn created by this suatn generat unique needs for the approximately 5 ln gay and lbian parents this untry whenever they prent themselv to the legal system, the tnal system, the mental health profsn, relig anizatns, the medil profsn, or the surance dtry - to name jt a few. * gay or lesbian family structure *
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).
WHERE WE STAND: GAY AND LBIAN PARENTS
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 or lesbian family structure *
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.
Fai head by sexual mori enunter unique barriers to re and health equy spe greater cultural acceptance and visibily. Empiril rearch suggts that children lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) fai velop and functn parably to those om tradnal … * gay or lesbian family structure *
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.
typ-of-fai~Amerin Amy of Pediatrics (AAP) discs adoptn to gay and lbian dividual or fay hoeholds. * gay or lesbian family structure *
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.