The Lesbian And Gay Parenting Handbook

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.

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.

Provides advice and anecdotes on each stage of parenting, filled with new information on internet safety, legal hoops for noncustodial parents, and late-in-life pregnancy.

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.

"Mom, Dad, I'm gay." When a parent hears these words, the initial shock is often followed by feelings ranging from anger and denial to fear and guilt. It's also the beginning of a difficult journey that, with understanding and emotional support, can lead to acceptance and beyond. Now fully revised and updated, Beyond Acceptance by co-authors Carolyn W. Griffin, Marian J. Wirth, and Arthur G. Wirth remains a ground-breaking book that provides parents the comfort and knowledge they need to accept the gay children and build stronger family relationships. Based on the experiences of other parents, this book lets them know they are not alone and helps them through the emotional stages leading to reconciliation with their children.

Gay parenting is a productive and positive decision, but author and lesbian mother Arlene Lev admits it isn't always an easy one. With practical wisdom and advice, and personal real-life stories, Lev prepares gay parents for this endeavor with everything they need to know and everything they can expect while making their own significant and challenging mark on family life in the 21st century.

Damien invites us to find different ways of responding to myths about lesbian and gay parenting. Damien shows us how myths, and psychologists' responses to them, function to uphold dominant values about parenting and families. He provides us with tools to take these myths apart and challenge the fears that drive many public (and private) discussions about our parenting. In this book, most importantly, he offers a language with which to change the conversation about lesbian and gay parenting. Damien, like most psychologists who write about and research lesbian and gay parenting, is concerned with creating a better world, but he asks us to pause and reflect on the strategies we use to bring about a better world and to question what exactly that world might look like. Clearly there are still many lesbians and gay men whose fitness to parent is called into question and some are likely to be helped by interventions that aim to counter myths and misconceptions about lesbian and gay parenting.