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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE September 13, 2002
evening'sout
Lesbian and gay families, seen from their viewpoint
The Gay Baby Boom
The Psychology of Gay Parenthood
by Suzanne Johnson
and Elizabeth O'Connor
NYU Press, $18.50 trade paperback Reviewed by Kaizaad Kotwal
Gay parenting has become a hot-button issue in America and the world over, more so in the last decade. With an increasing number of children up for adoption across the planet and with sophisticated fertility techniques and procedures, the supply of children, including those in need of parents, has skyrocketed. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender parents have a huge stake in this contentious, yet life-altering
Issue.
Suzane Johnson and Elizabeth O'Connor says the gay and lesbian community is experiencing a baby boom.Not only does this have significant ramifi-
cations for the LGBT community, but also for the culture at large.
The advancement of LGBT civil rights has allowed more and more homosexuals to achieve the formerly heterosexual prerogative of parenting. Between 6 and 14 million children are being raised by at least one parent who is gay or lesbian, the authors write. Like all statistics related to LGBT individuals, these numbers could be much higher, given that many people are still uncomfortable revealing sexual identity issues for surveys.
Johnson and O'Connor are two developmental psychologists who report and analyze the findings of the Gay and Lesbian Family Study in this book. The study is the largest national assessment of gayand lesbian-headed families.
The participants of this study were asked detailed questions about the way they raise their children. Thus, for the first time, this book is able to describe in detail (and based on first-hand accounts) about what
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takes place within gayand lesbian-headed families across the country.
Most importantly, the authors use this new data, groundbreaking in its own right, to dispel past mythologies about children being raised by homosexuals. Traditional research in the area of gay and lesbian parenting has often started out with the assumption that there is something uniquely different and potentially damaging about gays and lesbians raising children.
Johnson and O'Connor use the new findings to exhibit that these fears are unfounded and without scientific merit. The book moves past the age-old questions about whether LGBT folk should have children in the first place, and begins to discuss how it is that gay and lesbian parents are already creating and dealing with issues of families and parenting.
Ga Baby
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GAY PARENTHOOD
SUZANNE M. JOHNSON AND ELIZABETH O'CONNOR
While the book provides detailed analysis of gay and lesbian parenting households already in place, it is also a guidepost for individuals contemplating the formation of their own family unit.
The book, and the study it examines, focus primarily on gays and lesbians. Issues of bisexual and transgender parenting are absent. Other potential lines of questioning and inquiry in the future would do well to include bisexual and transgender parents, to fully reveal the spectrum of parenting models available in America.
In the introduction, Johnson and O'Connor write, "This study is not meant to be the final word on the study of gay and lesbian parents. It is, however, the first of its size to ask these parents themselves about their family lives."
The book attempts to normalize lesbian and gay families within the range of families at large. The challenges, joys and needs of lesbian and gay families seem to have much in common with non-gay families, but sometimes the challenges and joys are unique.
In light of this, the authors also suggest future avenues of research to better aid emerging gay and lesbian families in their search for creating stable, happy and unique models of parenting.
The book is a must read for anyone already in a lesbian or gay family unit or
those contemplating the creation of a new one. The book also provides a comprehensive list of other references in the area of the psychology of gay parenthood.
The battle for increased rights of LGBT parents has only just begun. Moreover, society at large still needs to readjust its views and perceptions about the possibilities of children being raised by LGBT parents. But with an overwhelming supply of children in need of parents and with the high-profile emergence of lesbian and gay parents like Rosie O'Donnell, the issue is here to stay, and in the forefront more than ever before.
The initial news is great. As Johnson and O'Connor write, "According to our results, gay and lesbian-headed families are functioning very well. As a group, they scored as well as, or better than, heterosexual couples on measures of relationship adjustment and satisfaction, allocation of tasks related to child-rearing and housekeeping, and communication about . their children.'
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Not only is this study a good source of affirmation for LGBT parents, but it may eventually work towards changing minds and changing laws about the equal rights of gays to parent if they so choose to.
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