Lesbian and gay individual parenting desires in heteronormative contexts

Abstract

The cultural, social and institutional barriers that LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) individuals have to face play crucial roles in their desires and intentions to have children. However, unlike the many studies on the decision-making process in the transition to parenthood, few studies have analysed the origins of parenting desires and intentions among LGBT individuals. This study explores the desires and intentions to have children amongst a sample of childless lesbian and gay Italian individuals. A sample of 285 participants (127 women and 158 men) completed a research protocol composed of items evaluating the strength of their desire to have children, their intentions about having children and their general attitudes towards parenting. The findings revealed how, despite the persisting depth of heteronormativity in the country and the absence of legal protection for lesbian and gay parents, a large percentage of participants expressed the desire and intention to have a child. These parenting intentions would seem to be positively influenced mainly by the negative attitudes towards childlessness and by the value attributed to parenthood.

Childlessness and Barriers to Gay Parenthood in Czechia

“…Some (older) gay men internalised the belief that their sexual orientation is in contradiction with parenthood. In some countries, religiosity partially accounts for the negative beliefs about gay families (Costa & Bidell, 2017;Lasio et al, 2020) but in highly secularised Czechia, such beliefs are historically anchored in the biologising discourse on intimate relations (Lišková, 2018) and the related essentialising gendered view of caregiving (Sokolová, 2021). Qualitative data thus show how the absence of parenting desires may be coming from sociocultural contexts (Shenkman et al, 2021).…”

“…Although becoming a parent is increasingly seen as non-mandatory, it remains an expected life transition that tends to be associated with heterosexuality as its privilege. There remains a tendency to stigmatise families that deviate from the norm of heterosexuality (Lasio et al, 2020). Here, researchers write about heteronormatively prescribed childlessness (Takács, 2018) and strategic denial of and compensation for parenting desires among gay men and lesbians (Kuhar & Takács, 2007;Mizielińska & Kulpa, 2011).…”

“…From the heteronormative perspective, being gay is associated with childlessness (Berkowitz & Marsiglio, 2007), and gay fathers are faced with "dual stigmatisation" associated with the belief in the "naturalness" of heterosexual parenthood and the belief that men do not have a "natural'' caregiving ability and cannot be as competent at parenting as women (Stacey, 2006). Heteronormativity manifests in a set of processes to re/produce heterosexuality on legal, cultural, structural, institutional, interactional, discursive, and individual levels (Lasio et al, 2020). Kimmel (2003) defines heteronormativity as an interplay of four social dynamics: misogyny (which marginalises femininity), bipolarisation (which marginalises non-heterosexualities), essentialism (which constructs heteronormativity and the resulting marginalisation of non-heterosexuality as "natural"), and religious prejudices.…”

“…In so-called Western societies, the LGBTQ+ movement played an essential role in legitimising intimate relations and parenting constellations other than those practised by heterosexual individuals (Roseneil et al, 2013). Research carried out mainly in the Anglo-American context documented how lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) parenting aspirations are shaped by the sociocultural, legislative, and institutional conditions (e.g., Baiocco & Laghi, 2013;Gato et al, 2017;Lasio et al, 2020;Leal et al, 2019;Riskind & Patterson, 2010;Shenkman et al, 2021). In some countries, the growing number of samesex families has been referred to as a "gay baby-boom" (Johnson & O'Connor, 2002).…”

What Would It Be Like to Be a Parent? Exploring the Role of Sexual Orientation and Culture on Perceptions of Parenthood in the Future

“…Despite advances in assisted reproduction techniques (ART) techniques and the opening up of adoption to same-gender couples in many countries, having children is still considered a prerogative of heterosexuality and research interest in the way LGB individuals envisage parenthood is quite recent (Allen & Mendez, 2018;Gato et al, 2021). Heteronormativity, that is to say the reinforcement of the beliefs and practices within social institutions and policies that legitimize and privilege heterosexuality (van der Toorn et al, 2020;Warner, 1993), has kept sexual and gender minority individuals in a disadvantaged vulnerable position also regarding their family formation plans (Baiocco et al, 2014;Lasio et al, 2019;Lasio et al, 2020). For instance, sexual minority individuals' parenthood aspirations may be hampered by a belief that their sexual orientation is immoral, that they would be less competent as a parent than their heterosexual peers, that every child should have a mother and a father, that a child could be harmed if they were to be raised by a same-gender couple, or that a child might be exposed to sexual minority stress because of being raised by a same-gender couple (for a review studies about the impact of minority stress on parenthood prospects of sexual minority individuals see Gato et al, 2021).…”