Out in the Country: Rural Sexual Minority Mothers

Abstract

Rural and urban sexual minority mothers' parenting experiences related to sexual orientation were compared. Participants were 414 mothers in same-sex relationships with at least one child under the age of 18 years living in their home who was planned with their current partner. Rural mothers were more likely to be biological parents and not adoptive parents. Rural mothers reported higher rates of discrimination from strangers and people in service or helping professions. Although outness for rural and urban mothers did not differ, for children, classmates' parents and neighbors were less likely to know the family's status in rural areas. Rural and urban mothers did not differ on internalized homophobia, social support, or stigma consciousness. Clinical and policy implications are discussed.

Rural location and exposure to minority stress among sexual minorities in the United States

“…For example, a study of LGB senior citizens in nursing homes found that community size did not predict the amount of discrimination they recognised from administrators, staff and other residents (Johnson et al, 2005), and a study of LGB college students found that urban and rural respondents reported similar levels of verbal or physical harassment, access to the LGB community and familial acceptance of their sexual identity (Waldo et al, 1998). Finally, place of residency was unrelated to levels of internalised homophobia, stigma consciousness and the amount of 'outness' among urban and rural lesbian mothers (Puckett et al, 2011).…”

“…However, regional differences were not present for gay men, and small-town lesbians did not face greater levels of homonegativity from parents, siblings and friends. Similarly, rural lesbian mothers experienced more cases of public harassment and rejection than urban lesbian moms, but the spatial differences disappeared when addressing homophobic comments by relatives (Puckett, Horne, Levitt & Reeves, 2011). Also, some evidence indicates that community size does not predict the reported amounts of social stigma for LGBs living with AIDS, yet rural lesbians and small-town gay men were more afraid to disclose their sexual identity than urban LGBs (Gonzalez et al, 2009).…”

Internalized Homophobia and Perceived Stigma: a Validation Study of Stigma Measures in a Sample of Young Men who Have Sex with Men

“…Most of the research on perceived stigma has been conducted with primarily White samples (e.g., Velez, Moradi, & Brewster, 2013). In addition, although research has included various subgroups of sexual minorities, including bisexuals (Bostwick, 2012; Brewster, Moradi, DeBlaere, & Velez, 2013), sexual minority mothers (Puckett, Horne, Levitt, & Reeves, 2011), lesbians (Lewis, Derlega, Clarke, & Kuang, 2006), and gay men (Kimmel & Mahalik, 2005), there is a dearth of research on perceived stigma with YMSM. This provides a broad literature on the usefulness of perceived stigma measures across the LGB population, but more work is needed to validate measures of perceived stigma with YMSM samples, particularly among YMSM of color.…”

Pride and Prejudice : Lesbian Families in Contemporary Sweden

“…relations to extended family, friends, colleagues, schools and neighbourhood (Almack, 2008a;Goldberg & Smith, 2011;Oswald & Lazarevic, 2011;Puckett, Horne, Levitt & Reeves, 2011;Rigs & Willing, 2013). Having a child in a planned lesbian family often directly involves healthcare services or welfare institutions, such as fertility clinics, maternal health care or adoption agencies.…”