LGBT-Parent Families

Abstract

The appearance of a handbook on LGBT-parent families similarly signals and advances the mainstreaming of a category of family that just a short time ago was utterly marginal, subversive, even illegal. As with same-sex mar- riage, what were once considered to be unacceptably queer forms of family have been moving rapidly from the realm of the clinically abnormal to that of the socially normative. Academic research has been intimately intertwined with the unexpectedly rapid normalization of at least lesbian- and gay-parent families. Court cases and legislative battles over bids for same-sex marriage, child custody rights, and access to foster care and adoption placements as well as to fertility and alternative reproductive services have relied heavily on the growing research literature on lesbian and gay parents and their children. Scholars working in this fi eld, including yours truly, have been called to tes- tify as experts in courtrooms and legislative hearings, and as public authori- ties and educators by the media and community institutions. Drawing on this mounting body of research, virtually all of the relevant major professional associations have weighed in, issuing a roster of reports and resolutions that af fi rm the effectiveness of lesbian and gay parents and formally support equal legal rights for them and their children. These include the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, Canadian Psychological Association, American Psychoanalytic Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, National Association of Social Workers, Child Welfare League of America, and the North American Council on Adoptable Children .