
LGBTQ INFORMATION NETWORK │ RAINBOW OF RESOURCES
PARENTS
Kids Can Thrive with Gay Parents
New Report: Gay Dads Make Better Parents
Children Raised by Same Sex Parents at No Disadvantage
Gay Parents: Anthony and Bryon's Story
Advocate: Study on Lesbian Moms Shows Kids Are Alright
Gays With Kids: Mitch and Jake’s Adoption Journey
Conservatives Outraged: Gay Couple on Cover of Parents
Magazine
Info: LGBTQ Adoption
No Differences Between Children of Same-Sex and
Opposite-Sex Parents
Children of Gay Parents Speak for Themselves
Gay Dads Share Personal Stories
Info: LGBTQ Families
New Book:
Ultimate Guide for Gay Dads
LGBTQ Parents in the Mainstream
These days, gay
parents are no novelty. We see them strolling
through our neighborhoods, participating in our PTA
meetings, and, perhaps most notably, appearing on our TV
screens... Mitchell and Cam, fathers to Lily, on
the ABC TV show
Modern Family.
Glee's
Sue Sylvester, expectant mom to a baby conceived with an
as-yet-unrevealed sperm donor. Also on Glee,
Rachel's dads, played with humor and grace by Jeff
Goldblum and Brian Stokes.
In
2011, Annette Benning was nominated for multiple awards,
including an Oscar, for her portrayal of a lesbian
mother to two teens (and Julianne Moore's partner)
in hit indie movie
The Kids Are All
Right.
These Hollywood examples are important in that they've
helped present gay parenting as not unlike straight
parenting: challenging, joyful, complicated, and most of
all, entirely normal.

Though this media "mainstreamification" of gay parenting
is a relatively new phenomenon, for decades, gay parents
have had children in all sorts of family configurations,
including through adoption, previous heterosexual
relationships, or, increasingly, by choosing to have
biological offspring using in vitro, surrogate, and
other methods. According to the 2010 census, a quarter
of same-sex American households are raising children,
gaining ground on heterosexual couples, who parent at a
rate of just under 50 percent.
So, millions of children in the United States today have
LGBTQ parents. And,
just as these families have appeared front and center in
the opening credits of the American sitcom, so too have
they shouldered themselves front and center in the group
photo of the real life American family. Turns out
"alternative families" aren't so alternative anymore.
Lesbian Moms Raising Children
Surrogacy to Start a Family: Tips for Gay Men
LGBTQ Parenting
Research: LGBTQ Parents and Healthy Family Dynamics
Gay Parent Magazine
Info: LGBTQ Families
Advocate: What I've Learned From Being a Gay Dad
In My Shoes: Stories of Youth with LGBTQ
Parents
PBS Video: Olivia Has Two Moms
Straight Daughter Responds to Questions About Her
Lesbian Moms
Advocates for Youth
Gay Parents: Gabriel and Dylan's Story
World's Largest Study of
LGBTQ Parents
Steve and Rob: Two Dads Adopt Six Siblings
The
Berretts: Questions for an LGBTQ Family
Gay Foster Parents
Kristi and Theresa: Lesbian Parents
Talking With Grown Kids of Gay Parents
Info: LGBTQ Adoption
My
Two Mums: Myths of Gay Adoption
LGBTQ Single Parent
Two Moms or Two Dads
Can LGBTQ parents raise kids? Sometimes people are
concerned that children being raised by a gay parent
will need extra emotional support or face unique social
stressors. Current research shows that children with gay
and lesbian parents do not differ from children with
heterosexual parents in their emotional development or
in their relationships with peers and adults. It is
important for parents to understand that it is the
quality of the parent/child relationship and not the
parent’s sexual orientation that has an effect on a
child’s development.

Research has shown that in contrast to common beliefs,
children of lesbian, gay, or transgender parents:
--Are not more likely to be gay than children with
heterosexual parents.
--Are not more likely to be sexually abused.
--Do not show differences in whether they think of
themselves as male or female (gender identity).
--Do not show differences in their male and female
behaviors (gender role behavior).
Gays With Kids
Family Equality
Council
Gay Parents: Anthony and Bryon's Story
Rainbow Babies
Steve and Rob: Two Dads Adopt Six Siblings
Children of Queer Parents Don't Have it Easy
Info: LGBTQ Adoption
Greg and Paul: Two Dads Foster Adopt
Lesbian Moms: How We Met
Me and My Gay Parents
Huff Post: Teased for
Having Two Mommies
Gay Parents: Gabriel and Dylan's Story
Short Film: Normal
Unlikely Hero: Father
Comes Out to Kids on Father's Day
Info: LGBTQ Families
New Book:
Ultimate Guide for Gay Dads
Ron and Greg: Story of Two Gay Dads
Tess and Nikina: Story of Two Lesbian Moms
Although research shows that children with gay and
lesbian parents are as well adjusted as children with
heterosexual parents, they can face some additional
challenges. Some LGBTQ families face discrimination in
their communities and children may be teased or bullied
by peers.

Parents can help their children cope with these
pressures in the following ways:
--Prepare your child to handle questions and comments
about their background or family.
--Allow for open communication and discussions that are
appropriate to your child’s age and level of maturity.
--Help your child come up with and practice appropriate
responses to teasing or mean remarks.
--Use books, Web sites and movies that show children in
LGBTQ families.
--Consider having a support network for your child (For
example, having your child meet other children with gay
parents.)
--Consider
living in a community where diversity is more accepted.

LGBTQ Parents
Raising Straight Kids
Is there a
negative impact of growing up in a home with gay
parents? Luckily, this is an area of psychology in which
the research is truly conclusive: children have just as
much chance to thrive with gay parents as with straight
parents. A new study published this fall in the journal
Developmental Psychology reaffirms this conclusion, and
should serve as reassuring evidence that validates the
experience of tens of thousands of gay and lesbian
parents raising children in America.
The study followed more than 100 families, all of whom
adopted children in infancy from the same set of private
agencies in the US. All of the families were two-parent
families at the time of the adoption. Approximately half
of the families were headed by opposite-sex parents and
half were headed by same-sex parents (including both
lesbian couples and gay male couples). The groups of
straight and gay parents were well-matched to one
another on demographic variables including parental age,
race, employment status, and highest level of education
obtained. All of the couples adopted infants who were
not biologically related to either member of the couple.
Kids Can Thrive with Gay Parents
New Report: Gay Dads Make Better Parents
Kristi and Theresa: Lesbian Parents
Advocate: What I've Learned From Being a Gay Dad
Straight Daughter Responds to Questions About Her
Lesbian Moms
Children Raised by Same Sex Parents at No Disadvantage
Gay Parents: Gabriel and Dylan's Story
Advocate: Study on Lesbian Moms Shows Kids Are Alright
Gays With Kids: Mitch and Jake’s Adoption Journey
PBS Video: Olivia Has Two Moms
Conservatives Outraged: Gay Couple on Cover of Parents
Magazine
Gay Parents: Anthony and Bryon's Story
No Differences Between Children of Same-Sex and
Opposite-Sex Parents
Children of Gay Parents Speak for Themselves
Gay Dads Share Personal Stories
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