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Queer Parents
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 Queer
Family Values : Debunking the Myth of the Nuclear Family (Queer
Politics, Queer Theories)
by Valerie Lehr
The flaw in the fight for gay and lesbian marriage
rights, argues Lehr in Queer Family Values, lies in its
failure to call into question the forms of oppression—gender,
racial, and economic—that lead society to privilege the nuclear
family. Lehr calls for activists to counter conservative discourses
that see the nuclear family—what Lehr considers a socially defined
institution that works to maintain, in various ways, inequalities
among people—as the only responsible and mature family
alternative. She asks for an approach to family issues and
individual liberty that challenges power rather than demands access
to privilege. She advocates social policies that enhance the freedom
of all people, not simply those gay and lesbian adults seeking to be
part of the dominant vision of family in our society.
Analyzing recent works on family, gender, race,
and class, Lehr shapes a theory of rights, freedom, and democracy
that can liberate us from the strictures of conservative hegemony.
She also provides practical examples of how activists can work for a
more compassionate and caring society. She devotes a chapter, for
example, to the responsibilities activists have to lesbian and gay
youths, who—unlike other children, who might find refuge from
social injustice at home—most often find in the traditional
American home homophobia and isolation. Asserting that family care
should be seen as a community function, Queer Family Values
offers an alternative political strategy focused not on gaining
rights, but on enhancing democracy and equality in private life.
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Gay and Lesbian Parenting: A type of
family that is emerging.
Excerpt:
While some gay couples decide to have or raise a child together in a
"nuclear" family, other families headed by lesbians or gay men
are blended families. Sometimes a parent in a heterosexual marriage may
realize that he or she is gay, and goes on to a homosexual relationship.
The gay partner may act as the stepparent of the child, although he or
she may not have the full complement of legal rights and
responsibilities that ex-spouse's new spouse may have. In other cases, a
gay couple might co-operate in baby-making and child raising with another
individual or couple. Below find some of the extensive web references I
have found.
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| Children
of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere
Mission Statement:
Our mission is to foster the growth of daughters
and sons of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender parents of all
racial, ethnic, and class backgrounds by providing education,
support and community on local and international levels, to
advocate for our rights and those of our families, and to promote
acceptance and awareness in society that love makes a family.
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By Richard Jasper
This guide is designed first and foremost to be
a resource for any married gay dad who is contemplating coming out
or who is in the process of doing so.
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| Families Like Mine
Abigail Garner is a writer, speaker, and
advocate for children with parents who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or
transgender (GLBT). She speaks from her own experience of having a gay
father who has been out to her since she was five years old. Combining
her own stories with those of other young people, Abigail brings a
strong voice to a population that often seems invisible. Speaking to
schools, churches, and other organizations since 1995, Abigail reaches
audiences that have ranged in size from 15 to 300.
This web site is dedicated to decreasing isolation for children with
parents who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (GLBT), and
bringing voice to the experiences of these families.
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Contrary to what some people think, lesbians
and gay men can and do have children. The Stonewall Parenting Group
campaigns for equal rights for lesbian and gay parents.
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Hundreds of support groups for lesbian and
gay families exist throughout the country. The following list comes from
The
Gay and Lesbian Parenting Handbook.
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