Gay Parents

This insightful new work deals with all of the contemporary issues concerning parenting by gay men and lesbians. It is designed to broaden readers' thinking on homosexuality and homosexuals in general; to include the dimension of children and parenting within the context of the homosexual family; and to provide specific information about it. The book also includes data on the children of gay and lesbian parents, as well as a discussion of alternative forms of parenthood such as adoptive and foster parenthood, stepparent families, and gay men and lesbians in heterosexual family unions. Because of their special significance, there are separate chapters on legal issues, counseling needs, and social psychological concerns for gays and lesbians considering parenthood.

With an estimated six to fourteen million children living with a gay or lesbian parent, there is a real need for accurate information for and about the realities of these families. With honesty and compassion, Lesbian and Gay Families Speak Out explores the variety of issues they face: from interpersonal relationships and sexual and psychological development, to coming out, dealing with prejudice, and finding a spiritual foundation. Using the compelling stories of over two dozen families in which gay fathers and lesbian mothers are raising children in a wide variety or settings and styles, Drucker proves that children thrive in an environment of love, regardless of the number, gender, or sexual orientation of the adults who provide that love.

With an estimated six to fourteen million children living with a gay or lesbian parent, there is a real need for accurate information for and about the realities of these families. With honesty and compassion, Lesbian and Gay Families Speak Out explores the variety of issues they face: from interpersonal relationships and sexual and psychological development, to coming out, dealing with prejudice, and finding a spiritual foundation. Using the compelling stories of over two dozen families in which gay fathers and lesbian mothers are raising children in a wide variety or settings and styles, Drucker proves that children thrive in an environment of love, regardless of the number, gender, or sexual orientation of the adults who provide that love.

This is the first book about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families that connects issues of gender, sexuality, and the family with the broader issues of social movements, politics, and law. Chapters address the themes of visibility, transgression, and resistance, as well as the intersection between the personal and political in the contexts of relationships, parenthood, and political activism. Giving special attention to families of color, immigrant, and poor families, the authors examine the risks entailed in coming out and the significance of class, race, and sexual and gender identity in this process. Parenting also creates dilemmas of visibility as queer families negotiate malls and schools as well as the medical, legal, and political institutions that regulate their families. This book explores how heteronormative and class assumptions influence state polices on parenthood, adoption, and relationships between adults, to question whether the law can meet the needs of queer families. Also discussed is how queer family politics are com-plicated by bisexuality, nonmonagamy, and gender nonconformity.

Debates about the family have often focused on the idealized family of the 1950s-middle class - two parents & two children. This book looks at the majority of American families who do not live this ideal, including divorced families & step-families.