Accepting a Lesbian Mother

Voorhis, Rebecca Van; McClain, Linda C.

doi:10.1606/1044-3894.3395

Cited by 18 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Same-sex parents often need to talk to their children about their sexual identity and about the homophobia in our culture to legitimize their family identity both within and outside the family unit. These families are faced with relational and cultural messages that can potentially challenge and injure their positive sense of family identity (Van Voorhis & McClain, 1997). These conversations are also consistent with findings from researchers who purport that same-sex parents are aware of the challenges their children may face growing up in a nontraditional family (Clay, 1990;West & Turner, 1995).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Understanding Communication Between Lesbian Parents and Their Children Regarding Outsider Discourse About Family Identity

Breshears

2011

Journal of GLBT Family Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Gay fathers and lesbian mothers are aware of the potentially complex implications their family identity may have on their children. They know that they may someday have to deal with their children's concerns about their family being different and have the task of preparing them for the various challenges this difference may present in the larger culture. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the discussion of outsider communication between lesbian parents and their children regarding family identity. The central question guiding the present study was: How do lesbian parents communicate with their children about outsider discourse concerning family identity? Specifically, I explored what the outsiders said to the children concerning family identity, what the messages meant to the lesbian parents, and how lesbian parents discussed outsider communication with their children. Examining these questions allowed me to explore how lesbian parents and their children collectively experience outsider communication and what this means for their family identity. The participants in the present study were 13 lesbian parents who have raised or are raising at least one child with their same-sex partners. Findings and implications of the study are discussed.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 66%

Understanding Communication Between Lesbian Parents and Their Children Regarding Outsider Discourse About Family Identity

Breshears

2011

Journal of GLBT Family Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The literature is consistent with Lachlan's experience, and indicates that one of the more awkward times for children dealing with their parent's homosexuality and the private and public interface for all members of lesbian-parented families are the early teenage years, say, 13 to 16 years of age or the junior and middle years of secondary schooling (O'Connell, 1993;Van Voorhis and McClain, 1997;Gershon et al, 1999;Paechter, 2000). It goes without saying that as children begin to deal with their own puberty, emerging sexuality and complex social relationships, the social pressure to appear as 'normal' as possible can impact upon how they define their families.…”

Section: Researchersupporting

confidence: 73%

Family in transition: parents, children and grandparents in lesbian families give meaning to ‘doing family’

Perlesz¹,

Brown

Lindsay

et al. 2006

Journal of Family Therapy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Lesbian parents, their children and grandparents ‘do family’ in rich and diverse ways. This article draws on innovative grounded theory research using qualitative, multi‐generational family interviews with twenty lesbian‐parented families living in Victoria, Australia. The intersection between the public and the private in lesbian family life has been seriously neglected by family researchers, and in particular the perspectives of family members other than the lesbian parents themselves. This article addresses the question of ‘How members of lesbian‐parented families define and describe their family’, and the results reported here focus on children's and grandparents' views, because they are the voices less well represented in the literature. Children and grandparents straddle both mainstream and marginalized spaces as they negotiate contemporary family life. We examine the interface and tensions between the traditional and the transformative, and the implications of these findings for family therapists are briefly discussed.

show abstract

“…When gay and lesbian parents come out after they have established families in a heterosexual relationship, the coming out process affects the entire family (Armesto, 2002; Beeler & DiProva, 1999; Bozett, 1980; Van Voorhis & McClain, 1997). For the gay or lesbian parents, disclosing their sexual identity to their children presents significant challenges.…”

Section: Coming Out To Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adult Children of Gay and Lesbian Parents

Lytle

Foley

Aster

2012

The Counseling Psychologist

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous scholars have explored various challenges facing children of gay and lesbian individuals, and some have explored the impact of a parent’s sexual orientation on the parent-child relationship. However, the impact of religion on the parent-child relationships of adult children with a gay or lesbian parent has been overlooked. In this study, 10 adult children with both a gay or lesbian parent and a heterosexual parent were interviewed and asked to retrospectively explore how religion impacted their parent-child relationships. The following themes emerged from phenomenological analysis of the interviews: (a) family break-up more difficult than the parents’ coming out; (b) discovery that parent was gay or lesbian; (c) initial shame over having gay or lesbian parent; (d) positive aspects of having a gay or lesbian parent; (e) redefined relationship with religion; and (f) impact of culture on how gay and lesbian individuals are viewed.

show abstract

Accepting a Lesbian Mother

Cited by 18 publications

References 9 publications

Understanding Communication Between Lesbian Parents and Their Children Regarding Outsider Discourse About Family Identity

Understanding Communication Between Lesbian Parents and Their Children Regarding Outsider Discourse About Family Identity

Family in transition: parents, children and grandparents in lesbian families give meaning to ‘doing family’

Adult Children of Gay and Lesbian Parents

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About