Gay And Lesbian Parents

In their own words, children of different ages talk about how and when they learned of their gay or lesbian parent's sexual orientation, and the effect it has had on them.

Candlewick relaunches a modern classic for this generation with an all-new, beautifully illustrated edition. Features an audio read-along! Heather’s favorite number is two. She has two arms, two legs, and two pets. And she also has two mommies. When Heather goes to school for the first time, someone asks her about her daddy, but Heather doesn’t have a daddy. Then something interesting happens. When Heather and her classmates all draw pictures of their families, not one drawing is the same. It doesn’t matter who makes up a family, the teacher says, because “the most important thing about a family is that all the people in it love one another.” This delightful edition for a new generation of young readers features fresh illustrations by Laura Cornell and an updated story by Lesléa Newman.

Through the voices of lesbian and gay parents and their children talking about their experiences, Martin shows how to build the kind of support network that all parents need.

Find sources of support for raising a nontraditional family in a straight world! The experience of parenting is commonly overlooked in psychological theory, and lesbians and gay men are not typically considered as parents or parents to be. Gay and Lesbian Parenting examines the psychological issues related to developing family and becoming parents for gay men and lesbians. Instead of pathologizing gay and lesbian families, it explores the emotional growth and development issues inherent in child-rearing. Traditionally, coming out as gay or lesbian meant abandoning any hope of becoming a parent or keeping your children if you already had them. But with the “gayby boom” in full swing, more and more gay and lesbian couples are having new babies, adopting children, and continuing to raise the offspring of previous heterosexual relationships. Although gay and lesbian parents still face unique challenges in building and rearing a family, as well as the usual problems heterosexual couples encounter, Gay and Lesbian Parenting unflinchingly examines these concerns and offers positive suggestions and ideas for dealing with the difficulties. This life-affirming book takes a look at the practical and emotional realities of raising children in nontraditional family structures, including: issues of kinship, shared motherhood, and possessiveness in lesbian couples legal issues entailed by the lack of marriage and legal kinship parenthood as a powerful force for personal growth and development fatherhood as a process of creating connectedness in the family, community, and place of worship original empirical research on the mental health of lesbians’children the history of the gay and lesbian movement as it relates to child-rearing Gay and Lesbian Parenting affirms the power of gay and lesbian couples to raise healthy, happy children and to change and grow through their experience of parenting. This book is also essential for mental health professionals from psychiatric nurses to psychiatrists who are working with the gay and lesbian community.

Same-sex marriage is an often-debated topic these days. When children are added to the picture, the issue can become even more controversial. Does growing up in families with gay or lesbian parents harm children? Do they struggle with more issues as adults than those who were raised in more traditional families? These are some of the questions this book addresses. The families in this book have thought about issues like these. Except for those families who already had children when they came out as being homosexual, they have had to go through artificial insemination or adoption in order to have children. These families are intentional and they think a lot about how to give their children the best possible lives. What are the good things about growing up in a family with same-sex parents? What are the difficulties? The families in this book try to answer just those questions.

Over the past 30 years, research on gay and lesbian parents has produced findings that challenge deeply rooted beliefs in child psychology about the processes through which parents influence the development of their children. Gay and Lesbian Parenting: New Directions builds on this important research with a detailed multidisciplinary examination of established knowledge and emerging information. In addition to evaluating already substantiated findings, this innovative collection marks a turning point in the field by showcasing a new wave of research that examines the dynamics of same-sex parenting and addresses questions about newly emerging concerns such as the consequences of different routes to same-sex parenthood and the effects of social perceptions on gay and lesbian family life.

In America today, more than 10 million children have gay or lesbian parents. Reinventing the Family is the first in-depth look at the joys, challenges, and issues facing these nontraditional families. It offers invaluable insight to gay and lesbian people who are choosing children, fighting for custody, and challenging our view of "family values".

Sometimes I fantasize about having a magic wand. How awesome it would be to wave it and completely eliminate prejudice, hate, and ignorance. Just imagine what it would be like to live in a world like that. How It Feels to Have a Gay or Lesbian Parent: A Book by Kids for Kids of All Ages gives voice to the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of children, adolescents, and young adults who have a gay or lesbian parent. In their own words, they talk openly and candidly about how and when they learned of their parent’s sexual orientation and the effect it had on them—and their families. Their stories echo themes of prejudice and harassment, conflict and confusion, adaptation and adjustment, and hope for tolerance and a family that can exist in harmony. “Because it’s an issue for other people, it becomes an issue for me. I’m angry about the way it works against me.” The stories told in How It Feels to Have a Gay or Lesbian Parent not only reflect the day-to-day struggle of children with a GLBT parent, they also reveal the pain inherent in high-conflict divorce and child custody cases. Children of gay/lesbian parents ranging in age from seven to 31 recall the confusion and grief created when the disclosure of their parent’s true sexual orientation ended a marriage and divided a family. The “straight” parent’s resentment can lead to angry remarks that—intentionally or unintentionally—disparage the gay/lesbian parent and threaten the natural love and affection the child feels for both. “I guess the hardest part about having a gay dad is that no matter how okay you are with it, there’s always going to be someone who will dislike you because of it.” The one-on-one interviews presented in How It Feels to Have a Gay or Lesbian Parent document first-hand the effects of homophobia on family life. Children struggle with the choice between living in a closet, shamed by peers and family members, or dealing with discrimination as a parent’s sexual orientation is used against them. Taken together, these stories make a statement for acceptance, understanding, and tolerance as children do their best to make the transition from a traditional family to a nontraditional lifestyle. “My mom is a normal person just like everyone else. The only thing that’s different about her is that she’s gay and if you can’t deal with it, you’re just going to have to live with it.” How It Feels to Have a Gay or Lesbian Parent: A Book by Kids for Kids of All Ages offers comfort and support to children from those who share their journey. The book is a valuable aid for practitioners working with children of GLBT parents and an educational tool for GLBT adults considering children.