Gay and Lesbian Parenting : New Directions

A new, multidisciplinary look at GLBT parenting

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.

Gay and Lesbian Parenting: New Directions presents an overview of significant developments and suggests future directions for the field. Arranged in four sections, this unique text offers cutting-edge information gathered from both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Section one considers gay and lesbian family formation and the may routes through which lesbians and gay men have become parents. Section two reviews family relationships from parents', and their children's, perspective. The contributions to the third section discuss how gay and lesbian families describe themselves to others. The final section examines the public perceptions held by heterosexuals about lesbian and gay parenting and looks toward possibilities for the future.

Chapters in Gay and Lesbian Parenting: New Directions:

• look at established research and the perspective of gay and lesbian parents and their children on family life
• explore methodological advances in the research field
• define the demographics of gay and lesbian parenting and the comparisons of lesbians, gay men, heterosexual women, and heterosexual men without children
• consider the decisions involved in and the systemic process of donor insemination and surrogacy
• study gay and lesbian adoptive parents
• investigate representations of diversity in storybooks for children of gay and lesbian parents
• situate gay men’s journeys into fatherhood within the sociohistorical context of developments in the United States
• tell personal stories about the prospect of gay fatherhood
• present a consideration of the different identities that lesbian and heterosexual mothers construct
• critically consider the terminology used both within and outside lesbian-parented families to describe a wide variety of co-parenting relationships
• give an introduction to critical psychology and deconstruct the debate over the importance of paternal influence
• report findings from a large community survey in Australia on attitudes toward same-sex parenting and beliefs about developmental outcomes
• and much more!

Accessible and detailed, with numerous case studies, bibliographies, tables, and figures, Gay and Lesbian Parenting: New Directions is an ideal resource for students and educators, researchers and professionals working in GLBT and Queer Studies, family therapists, counselors, psychotherapists, social workers, and psychiatrists.

Fiona Tasker, PhD, Jerry J. Bigner, PhD