The Gay Movement and the Rights of Children

Abstract

Implications of the gay rights movement for the rights of children are examined from a developmental perspective which allows the rights issue to be refocused from one of children's rights to that of the rights of the adults that children become. Believing that a gay identity and life style is a positive option to which all adults have a right, we explore the developmental requirements for the growth of a positive gay identity. First, society and its institutions must stop trying to stamp out homosexuality through intervention programs which promote a negative (or homosexual) identity rather than a positive (gay) identity. Second, social systems must support and facilitate the development of a gay identity and life style, by informing children about the existence of gay‐identified adults and their life styles, by providing positive gay role models, and by allowing the opportunity for exploring gay feelings and life styles. The relationship between gay identity and sex‐role violation is discussed and its implications both for gay people and for the larger society are examined.