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from Parenting & Family and Gay Activism in the Social Sciences
Study Surveys Adults With Gay Or Bisexual Parents
February 4, 2008 - A survey of adults with gay, bisexual or lesbian parents was published in 2007 in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry (Vol. 77, No. 4, 550-562).
"(How) Does It Make A Difference? Perspectives Of Adults With Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Parents" by Abbie E. Goldberg, studied the attitudes of 46 adults who had been reared in homosexual or bisexual households.
Goldberg noted in his introductory remarks that researchers Stacey and Biblarz have proposed a new model for doing research on Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual (LGB) parents and their children. The new model rejects using a heterosexual parent household as the "gold standard" for what is normal and views differences as simply differences and not evidence of superior or pathological development.
The new model asserts that family forms are socially constructed and rejects heterosexism.
The current survey was based upon social constructionism and queer theory. According to Goldberg, "A social-constructionist approach acknowledges families, sexuality, and gender as socially and materially constructed." In addition, queer theory is used to "deconstruct the binaries of male-female, heterosexual/homosexual, and real families/pseudofamilies, and it can highlight the complexity of family, sexuality, and gender relations."
Goldberg notes: "...both theories assume that reality is socially constructed: Gender and sexual orientation are not fixed categories but are fluid and contested, and there are many ways to 'do gender' and to 'do sexual orientation.'"
The subjects in this survey were recruited from Children of Gays and Lesbians Everywhere (COLAGE), Families Like Mine, PFLAG and other groups.
The survey found that adults from gay, bisexual or lesbian families were less judgmental and more tolerant of diversity; were more likely to empathize with other minorities; were more sensitive to homophobia; and became more politically active in promoting the goals of the gay community.
In addition, they were more comfortable with gender nonconformity, including transgenderism.
Fifteen out of 36 women interviewed described their inability to trust others. They had developed a lack of trust because their parents had concealed their sexual orientation from them at some point in the past.
Goldberg believes that these attitudes will pass from one generation to another as "intergenerational queering." "These individuals may be more likely to raise children with more complex ideas about gender, sexuality, and family," said Goldberg.
Additional Reading: Parenting & Family;
Gay Activism in the Social Sciences
Updated: 27 February 2008
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