Radical Normals: The Moral Career of Straight Parents as Public Advocates for Their Gay Children

Abstract

Sociological research has examined straight parents in “traditional” family arrangements who become gay rights activists, but pays insufficient attention to how this puzzling identity comes into being. Drawn from observations and interviews of parents participating in a local chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) (2009 to 2010), this paper analyzes the parenting activities undertaken by straight parents of gay children as a moral career, involving stages of acceptance that can lead to eventual public advocacy. Paradoxically, these parents become radical normals through these stages; that is to say, they “do” the work of parenting by becoming gay rights advocates, motivated by commitments to conventional imperatives of loving and supporting a child. Using the conceptual scaffolding of the moral career, this paper identifies the mechanisms that move parents through these different career stages.

Career development and counselling needs of LGBTQ high school students

“…Such intentional effort and action to establish a safe and trustworthy helping environment can be fundamental to the efficacy of the career guidance and counselling tasks. Of note, soliciting support from students' families may also have a positive impact on the students' career exploration and coping experiences (Johnson & Best, 2012).…”

Profaning the Past to Salvage the Present: The Symbolically Reconstructed Pasts of Homeless Shelter Residents

“…These clearly marked stages provide resources for drawing narrative boundaries between past, present, and future selves . As DeGloma () illustrates, autobiographical narratives that incorporate discontinuity and change frequently split the past and present into separate personas, creating a “temporally divided self.” The temporal partition thus separates not just time periods, but also two morally‐charged selves—one “good” and one “bad.” Such divisions can correspond to transition points between stages of the moral career—such as coming out as the parent of a gay child in the moral career of Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) participants (Johnson and Best ), hitting bottom for alcoholics (Denzin ), or, in the case at hand, becoming a homeless shelter resident.…”

“…The temporal partition thus separates not just time periods, but also two morally-charged selves-one ''good'' and one ''bad.'' Such divisions can correspond to transition points between stages of the moral career-such as coming out as the parent of a gay child in the moral career of Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) participants (Johnson and Best 2012), hitting bottom for alcoholics (Denzin 1987), or, in the case at hand, becoming a homeless shelter resident.…”

Putting Families of Origin into the Queer Picture: Introducing This Special Issue

“…The samples of existing studies, including those hosted in this issue, are often mainly recruited through organizations like PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) in the United States, or similar ones in other countries (like AGEDO in Italy). A thorough discussion on the implications of this recruitment requires that these organizations become themselves objects of inquiry, about how they shape meanings, identities, and motives for action (Broad, Crawley, & Foley, 2004;Broad, 2011;Johnson & Best, 2012), and about how they may reproduce hierarchies of gender and sexuality, but also of race and class (Broad, Alden, Berkowitz, & Ryan, 2008). Qualitative studies, based on small samples, have been recently joined by online surveys (Horne et al,2010;Conley, 2011;Gonzalez et al, 2013), which might also contribute to exploring differences between more active parents (and other family members) and those developing their coping strategies without contact with these organizations.…”