Gay Parents Research Articles

Changing Social Context and Queer Recruitment Panics

Following the Supreme Court’s decision on marriage equality, a sense of “mission accomplished” quickly shifted focus away from the legal concerns of same-sex families. One year later, legal uncertainties remain for LGBT parents and children, resulting in differing access to and use of familial rights across states.

Juventude periférica, gênero, sexualidade e violência de Estado: notas a partir de uma família LGBT na cidade de São Paulo

Esta análise busca explorar etnograficamente questões relacionadas à Família Stronger, coletivo LGBTQIA + da periferia de São Paulo. Famílias LGBT como a Stronger surgem no bojo de um processo de ocupação e deslocamento dissidente no espaço urbano da metrópole paulistana, especialmente a partir do fim do século XX. No âmbito de uma longa pesquisa etnográfica com essa família, exploro alguns de seus caminhos na construção de laços políticos relacionados à vivência citadina, inclusive em sua relação com outros coletivos. Argumento que a ocupação de determinados espaços opera como fator importante na constituição de sentidos geracionais dentro do grupo. Por fim, analisando dois casos distintos de assassinato de adolescentes que representaram nós cruciais no processo de politização das famílias LGBT e detonam uma ocupação específica do espaço público, reflito sobre como a participação política da Família Stronger é Autor0000-00-00T00:00:00Aconstruída em relação à violência contra corpos LGBTQIA+ nos espaços citadinos.

Legislating political space for LGBT families: The 2018 referendum on the definition of family in Romania

AbstractAs marriage is defined in post‐socialist Romania as the union of two spouses and not specifically between a man and a woman, the legalisation of homosexuality in 2002 created the possibility for legal same‐sex marriage and for a more inclusive sexual citizenship. By 2018, a political alliance mobilised a referendum to redefine marriage in a way that would make families headed by same‐sex couples impossible. LGBT rights organisations and others who promote a more tolerant society urged Romanian citizens to boycott the vote. Eventually, due to a missing quorum the referendum was invalidated leaving the definition of marriage as it was – between two spouses. With a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, we analyse the way that this referendum functioned as a test of the re‐definition of family within the post‐socialist Romanian political space. The failure of this legislation then leads to our central question – were Romanians acting to promote a more tolerant and inclusive definition of family or were they merely reacting against the politicians, religious, and other influential groups who initiated the referendum? First, discourse analysis presents the various sets of ideas employed by actors involved for and against the referendum. Then we conduct a spatial analysis to reveal the territorial articulations of obedience to vote (voter turn‐out) and the results of voting along with other demographic characteristics. Even though the majority of the population with the right to vote preferred to boycott the referendum, our research demonstrates the spatial articulation of attitudes towards LGBT families showing that in Romania there are five overlapping discourses: the tolerant, the politically conformant, the homophobic, the passive rural, and the homosexual.

Reproductive Ethics and Family

Reproductive Ethics and Family

Perceptions of family acceptance into the military community among U.S. LGBT service members: A mixed-methods study

LAY SUMMARY There are approximately 16,000 families of lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBT) service members in the U.S. military, but very little is known about how accepted they feel in the communities in which they live. This study begins to address this question by considering the perspectives of LGBT service members, which they shared both in response to an online survey and in interviews. Findings suggest that many service members believe their spouses and families are accepted by their chain of command. However, a smaller but important group continued to express concerns about their family being accepted in their military community. Many service members appear concerned that family services available to them through the military are not appropriate for LGBT families. Altogether, this article highlights the need for more research to understand the well-being and needs of this group.

Early childhood administrators’ use of and beliefs about inclusive practices for gay and lesbian families

This qualitative study utilized purposive sampling across the state of North Carolina to examine the practices of early childhood administrators in creating centers that were inclusive to gay and lesbian headed families. Data from four open-ended questions were analyzed to consider the use of picture books, promotional materials, and training for staff that were lesbian and gay parent focused. As well, a fourth question that asked for any feedback the participants wished to share revealed underlying beliefs and values of the NC administrators. Results indicated a continuum of practices that tended toward heterosexism and homophobia with limited lesbian and gay affirming practices reported. Implications include the need to increase training availability, increase LGBT content in early childhood preparation programs, and creation of policies that are inclusive to lesbian and gay headed families in early childhood settings.

Sensitivity and rough-and-tumble play in gay and heterosexual single-father families through surrogacy: The role of microaggressions and fathers’ rumination.

Sensitivity and rough-and-tumble play in gay and heterosexual single-father families through surrogacy: The role of microaggressions and fathers’ rumination.

Deconstructing the Textual Representation of the Fathers in the Fantasy Picturebook One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads (1994)

This paper aims to explore the linguistic and visual choices used by the writer and the illustrator in order to create meaning in the fantasy picturebook One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads (1994), written by Johnny Valentine and illustrated by Melody Sarecky, which features a gay family. The analytical tools employed in this study to deconstruct meanings in the said picturebook are Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) Visual Social Semiotics and Painter et al.’s (2013) model to read visual narratives in children’s picturebooks. The analysis concentrates on the textual and compositional metafunctions in order to observe the intersemiotic relationship between verbal and visual meanings and their realizations through various linguistic and visual modes. The methodology is qualitative-descriptive. One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads reveals that both visuals and written text narrate the story, although it is the visual that is given a predominant role on the page due to its size, the location of the characters and the frames. The analysis shows that this is a picturebook in which having two fathers is represented as nonnormalized, although they perform their family duties as they are expected to because they do the same things that other fathers do.

Different Placement Practices for Different Families? Children's Adjustment in LGH Adoptive Families.

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to examine the characteristics of children placed with lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adopters, and to examine children’s problem behaviors and positive psychosocial adjustment across the three family types.BackgroundThere is evidence that children with hard-to-place profiles may be more likely to be matched with lesbian and gay parents. In addition, children adopted from care face greater developmental difficulties than children raised by their birth families, although adoptive parents may buffer the negative effects of early adversity on their children’s psychosocial adjustment.MethodA final sample of 149 adoptive families from across the United Kingdom was recruited: 71 heterosexual parented, 39 lesbian parented, and 39 gay parented.ResultsThe results showed that gay and lesbian parents were more likely than heterosexual parents to be matched with hard-to-place children, partially because they were more open to being matched with children with hard-to-place profiles. However, no differences among the three family types on children’s psychosocial adjustment were found, when controlling for children’s early adversity.ConclusionAdopted children displayed similar levels of problem behaviors and positive adjustment in lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parented families. Early adversity and having a physical problem/disability accounted for much of the variance in problem behaviors whereas parenting did not. In contrast, it was suggested that parenting processes, namely, parental closeness, may help to explain children’s positive adjustment.

Sexualities and class in transnational family practices of LGB migrants in Belgium and the Netherlands

The present paper focuses on transnational families of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) migrants and addresses their peculiar absence in sociological and geographical perspectives across migrations, families and sexualities research. It draws from a study of middle-class LGB migrants who are married or raising children with a same-sex partner in Belgium and the Netherlands and their parents still residing in select Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries with constitutional protection of heterosexual marriage. The goal of the study is to examine how intersections of class and sexualities shape CEE LGB migrants’ trajectories and transnational family practices. The analysis is based on one life story, situated in a comparative framework. The present study approaches the middle-class experiences and non-normative sexualities of CEE migrants as continuously reappearing and disappearing privileges and disadvantages. From this viewpoint, the study highlights class advantages as consistently alleviating the disadvantages of non-normative sexualities, but also simultaneously bringing both further restrictions and additional benefits to the married CEE LGB migrants, particularly those with children. These restrictions are best reflected in the limits to further mobilities that stem from the risk of losing extensive legal protection of same-sex partnership and parenting. The benefits further extending class advantages are identifiable in the intensification of transnational family practices following planned same-sex parenthood. These not only transform and strengthen the intimacies of CEE LGB migrants with their families-of-origin, but they also contribute to shifting assumptions of ‘normal’ familyhood, particularly in relation to technology-assisted reproduction, social parenthood and the nurturer roles.

“I Cannot Wait to Build that One Day”: Lesbian and Bisexual College-Age Women’s Views on Marriage and Family

After the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality in 2015, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community has gained visibility. One cohort that is affected by this decision is lesbian and bisexual college-age women. The present study, through six face-to-face semi-structured interviews with self-identifying lesbian and bisexual college-age women, sought to understand how these women view marriage and family. Three themes emerged are: (a) Heteronormative socialization, (b) Personal endorsement of marriage, and (c) LGBT Parenting. The results of this study suggest that college-age women still carry the effects of growing up and entering adulthood in a largely heteronormative society, endorse marriage as an institution, and find profound personal meaning in the prospect of forming a family. Even in the face of protracted legal battles that are eventually won, the humanity of individual and personal motivation remains the most salient factor in forming bonds and building families.

Social Inclusion or Gender Equality? Political Discourses on Parental Leave in Finland and Sweden

During the 2010s, both Finland and Sweden made advancements in their parental leave systems by widening the right to paid parental leave to a greater diversity of family constellations and investing in gender-equal leave distribution through longer leave periods reserved for the father. However, in the latter respect, Sweden has remained more successful than Finland. This article analyses government and political party discourses in Finland and Sweden during the 2010s in pursuit of an explanation to this difference and for understanding how ideas on social inclusion and gender equality have been used to drive, or block, policy reforms in the field of parental leave. The results show that the parental leave discourses have become influenced by ideas on social inclusion and gender equality in both countries, but in somewhat different ways. While gender equality has retained a stronger position in the Swedish discourse and its policy, social inclusion, and notably the rights of same-sex parents, have become more visible in the Finnish. However, the results also show that both ideas have remained contested on a party level, especially by confessional and nationalist-populist parties.

Parental Leave Reforms in Finland 1977–2019 from a Diversity Perspective

In Finland, all parents, regardless of gender, are eligible for parental leave and there are no restrictive eligibility criteria. In practice, however, the statutory leave options are not equally available to all parents. Since the 1970s, steps have been taken in redesigning the leave scheme to make it more inclusive. Several reforms have been made to promote equality, mainly between women and men, but also between diverse families, such as adoptive families, multiple-birth families or same-sex parent families. The ‘demotherisation’ of parental-leave rights has slowly shifted the focus from biological mothers to fathers and non-biological parents. In the most recent reforms, the focus has widened from equality between parents to include equality between children regardless of the form of the family that they are born or adopted into.

Father–child bonding and mental health in gay fathers using cross-border surrogacy during the COVID-19 pandemic

Research questionWhat are the psychological implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for father–child bonding and mental health among Italian gay fathers pursuing surrogacy in the USA or Canada? DesignBetween 20 March and 29 July 2020, this cross-sectional case–control study collected data on father–child bonding quality, depression, anxiety and somatization in 30 Italian gay fathers (n=15 families) who were having or successfully had a child through cross-border surrogacy during the COVID-19 pandemic. These fathers were compared with a sociodemographically similar group of 50 Italian gay fathers (n=25 families) who had children through cross-border surrogacy prior to the pandemic. ResultsAlthough father–child bonding quality and the mental health symptoms of fathers scored below the clinical cut-off points in both groups, fathers who had or were having a child during the COVID-19 pandemic reported poorer father–child bonding (estimate 3.04, SE 1.47, P=0.044) and more depressive (estimate –1.47, SE 0.49, P=0.005), anxious (estimate –1.96, SE 0.55, P<0.001) and somatic symptoms (estimate –2.48, SE 0.52, P<0.001). ConclusionsThe findings call for the development of international guidelines for cross-border surrogacy and underline the need for tailored and ongoing psychological and legal support for intended gay fathers to ease their strain and anxiety related to having a child through cross-border surrogacy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early Pension Claiming and Expected Longevity: A Register-Based Study on the Take-up of the Partial Old-Age Pension in Finland

Abstract As of February 2017, Finns have been able to claim a partial old-age pension early at age 61 independent of their working hours or earnings. Focusing on the take-up of the partial old-age pension in Finland, this article investigates whether early pension claiming is associated with expected longevity. We assume parental longevity to signal expected longevity. We use total register data on those eligible to claim a partial pension at age 61 in 2018 or 2019 and link this data to the information on their parents’ birth and death dates. To our knowledge, there exists no previous register-based study that uses parental longevity to explain pension claiming behavior. Since the longevity of the same-sex parent in particular influences subjective life expectancy, the variables of interest were the same-sex parent being alive and the age (at death) of the same-sex parent. The baseline results show a negative connection between the same-sex parent being alive and claiming. The connection disappears after controlling for gender, but the negative connection between the age (at death) of the same-sex parent and the claiming remains significant in a fully adjusted model. Known risk factors for shorter longevity, such as being male, having a lower income and wealth, also increase the likelihood of claiming. The results indicate that people take their expected longevity into account when making pension claiming decisions. This may hold critical implications for actuarial neutrality, the key assumption of the pension system design, and can lead to an unexpected increase in public pension expenditure.

Stuck under the Rainbow? Gay Parents' Experiences with Transnational Surrogacy and Family Formation in Times of COVID-19 Lockdown

Scientific progress in the medical field has contributed to the realisation of becoming parents by people who have previously been naturally excluded from procreation and parenthood, such as older, non-fertile, and homosexual persons and couples. However, depending on specific national regulations, possible pathways to becoming parents are different and often reserved only for some categories of people. This is the case, for example, in Italy, where it is more difficult for homosexual people to have a family than it is for others, since national legislation prohibits homosexuals from using any form of third-party reproduction. Consequently, many Italian same-sex couples turn to agencies abroad to realise their desire to have children, giving rise to transnational practices of family formation. The COVID-19 pandemic and severe lockdown policies have exacerbated some critical aspects of this transnational system of access to parenting. To fight the spread of coronavirus, national governments have placed limits on mobility and, consequently, also placed limits on transnational practices and trajectories of family formation. The specific aim of this paper is to provide insights into the experiences of some gay Italian fathers-to-be who have been blocked in their transnational family formation projects because of coronavirus lockdown measures. The focus lies on how these men reacted to feeling “stuck” and seeing their plans of receiving and/or bringing home their children suddenly foiled by the lockdown measures. Particular attention is paid to how these men coped with exacerbated challenges in the transnational practices of reproduction and family formation.

Differences in Perinatal Outcomes of Birthing People in Same-Sex and Different-Sex Marriages.

It is unknown whether people in same-sex relationships who give birth have different perinatal outcomes than people in different-sex relationships, despite differences in risk factors such as use of assisted reproductive technologies, obesity, smoking, and poor mental health. Marriage equality has established birth certificates as a promising new source of population-based data on births to same-sex married parents. We used birth certificate data from Massachusetts for 201,873 singletons born to married parents from 2012 to 2016. We estimated the associations of several birth outcomes with having a birth parent in a same-sex marriage using propensity score-matched and -unmatched samples. We also tested whether these associations were modified by the use of assisted reproductive technologies. People in same-sex marriages who gave birth had perinatal outcomes related to decreased fetal growth and preterm birth that were similar to those of their peers in different-sex marriages. Use of assisted reproductive technology was associated with decreased fetal growth and increased risk of preterm birth for infants with different-sex parents but not for infants with same-sex parents. More research is needed across other states and to understand why use of assisted reproductive technology is not a risk factor for poor birth outcomes for those in same-sex marriages.

The Impact of Internalized Stigma on LGBT Parenting and the Importance of Health Care Structures: A Qualitative Study.

Research on LGBTIQ+ families has focused on the effects of being in a diverse family on the development of children. We seek to show the experience of parenthood from the perspective of LGBTIQ+ people, considering its particularities and the role that health care services play as a potential support network. We used the biographical method through open-ended interviews, participants were LGBT people, and key informants from Chile, Colombia, and Mexico were selected based on a sociostructural sampling. We found that internalized stigma impacts LGBTIQ+ parenting in five ways: the impossibility of thinking of oneself as a parent, fear of violating children’s rights, fear of passing on the stigma, fear of introducing their LGBTIQ+ partner, and the greater discrimination that trans and intersex people suffer. We identified gaps in health care perceptions: the need to guarantee universal access to health care, the need to include a gender perspective and inclusive treatment by health personnel, mental health programs with a community approach, access to assisted fertilization programs, and the generation of collaborative alliances between health services, civil society organizations, and the LGBTIQ+ community. We conclude that the health system is a crucial space from which to enable guarantees for the exercise of rights and overcome internalized stigma.

Childless Bisexual and Gay Men’s Expectations of Obstacles and Enabling Factors for Pursuing Parenthood

This article concerns childless bisexual and gay men’s expectations of potential future fatherhood. Social context, biological prerequisites and legal restrictions have in previous research proven to be complicating factors in the process of starting a family. This article investigates the experience of 14 bisexual and gay men in Sweden who are contemplating parenthood. Semi-structured interviews were conducted. The interviews were analyzed using grounded theory methodology, resulting in a model that identified obstructing and enabling factors in realizing future parenthood. The path to parenthood was seen as a process containing both the decision to pursue parenthood and the belief that parenthood was a possibility. The process toward parthood was not linear, but a pendular movement, affected by obstructing factors and enabling factors. One of the main findings was the experience of invisibility in relation to involuntary childlessness amongst bisexual and gay men. Simultaneously, the possibility to break this invisibility, to become a parental role model for other bisexual and gay men, and to revise images of the nuclear family were strong motivating factors. The findings are discussed in relation to Swedish gay men and fathers’ social situation.

Is the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child Doing Enough to Protect the Rights of LGBT Children and Children with Same-Sex Parents?

Abstract Children often face discrimination, bullying and even violence because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, as do children raised by parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). This article considers what the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child is doing to protect the rights of LGBT children and children with LGBT parents. To make such an assessment, this article critically analyses the Committee’s Concluding Observations over a 10-year period, its General Comments and its Views on Individual Communications. The conclusion reached is that while the Committee has made encouraging progress in recent years when it comes to addressing LGBT related issues, there is still room for improvement in the way the Committee seeks to protect children from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.