Sexual Orientation Issues: Raising Children

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(1) Present yourself as either a partner in a gay or lesbian couple or a grandparent raising a grandchild. Discuss the pressures and challenges you face from your family of origin as well as from society.

Involvement in a relationship as a gay or lesbian partner may present several obstacles if the person makes the decision to adopt or foster children. Among the concerns would be the fear of exposing one's children to the pressures of individual and societal bias toward same-sex parents. Several other issues may emerge that are unique to couples in a gay or lesbian relationship including the perceptions of others toward gays who assume parenting roles. For example, research highlights a number of challenges that gay persons encounter as the head of households. Often these families live in a context of heterosexual and homophobia both at the individual and institutional level (Riggs, McLaren, & Mayes, 2009, 52). For example, heterosexual individuals hold negative attitudes toward lesbian and gay parents. Riggs et al (2009) examined the perceptions of two separate groups concerning their feelings of gay persons as parents. While one group provided positive views of gay and lesbian couples in parenting roles, the other group who otherwise held progressive views on lesbians and gay rights negatively rated gay men as potential fathers. They depicted them as "less emotionally stable and less desirable for adoption compared to heterosexual couples" (p, 52).

Thus, as revealed in the "Contemporary Families" article, research point to significant differences between the experiences of growing up in a lesbian, gay or heterosexual family. As noted in the research of Riggs et al (2009), gay fathers experienced alienation from non-parent peers, and were perceived as conforming to a heterosexual lifestyle. Similarly, gay men as fathers ...