Homosexual Parents: The Ongoing Struggle For A Family Essay

Many people argue that family is not the best cultural element because they can bring one down and just abandon one in times of need, but family is still there to help during those tough times. In the short story Two Kinds, Amy Tan uses her characters to show how family can pressure one to not have the best life by stating, “It was not the only disappointment my mother felt in me. In the years that followed, I failed her many times, each time asserting my will, my right to fall short of expectations. I didn’t get straight As. I didn’t become class president. I didn’t get into Stanford. I dropped out of college. Unlike my mother, I did not believe I could be anything I wanted to be, I could only be me” (Tan 24). The mother wanted her to do these specific things so she can feel proud of her daughter; that she has met her expectations. Nikan’s mother just wants her daughter to be successful, but Nikan feels that she has disappointed her mother and has failed to meet her expectations. They never talked again about the disaster they had together. Family will not abandon anyone because they were not able to accomplish what was expected of one. The book

The purpose of this essay is to give a clear understanding of gay and lesbian families. This essay will discuss relative information and problems of this client group focusing on the demographic, history, polices, issues faced by the group as well as relevant support groups and programs available. This essay will discuss these topics by drawing on existing published scholarly literature and relevant, credible published sources. The second part of this essay will be a reflection of an event that relates to the LGBTIQA Community. This reflection will discuss the event as well as thoughts and feeling of a participant in the event. For the purpose of this essay Gay and lesbian will be defined as “A person who is attracted primarily to members of the same sex. Although it can be used for any sex e.g. gay man, gay woman, gay person, “lesbian” is sometimes the preferred term for women who are attracted to women.” ("LGBT Terms and Definitions | International Spectrum", 2016).

The other issues are the health concerns when it comes to the gay communities, and how

DANIEL WINUNWE RIVERS. Radical Relations: Lesbian Mothers, Gay Fathers, and Their Children in the United States since World War II. (Gender and American Culture.) Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2013. Pp. xii, 296. $32.50.

Homophobia impacts people through a combination of institution & individual or policy & person. This is true for insurance companies and individual healthcare professionals and how policy is/isn’t enforced. This has a potentially devastating impact in accessing adequate and affordable healthcare for LGBT+ individuals because of what those rules constitute. Notably, a bygone of the Reagan era still exists: sexually active men who sleep with men are prohibited from donating blood to the Red Cross.

In the last decade there has been a rise in the number of lesbians and gay men forming their own families. Many do this through adoption, foster care, artificial insemination, and other means. Today, researchers have estimated that the number of children living with one gay or lesbian parent is six to fourteen million. Some have described this current period as a lesbian and gay “baby boom”. However, lesbian and gay parents face many social and legal obstacles (Lambda Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 1997).

A critical finding from this study, was the belief that the discrimination surrounding homophobia is the core reason as to why the concern behind sexual orientation of parents exists at all. This article found a stronger correlation between the children, specifically daughters raised by lesbian mothers, and the absence of typical gender identities associated with their behaviour, chosen activities and aspirations for the future. These results suggest children of lesbian parenting are not forced to restrict themselves to certain gender associated roles. When examining the sexual preferences and behaviour of the children from both households, they found the children of lesbian mothers were more open to considering a same-sex relationship in their future. Although

Powerful social forces propel the controversy around LGBT families and often lead to the fear and confusion that affect so many early childhood educators.

A more systematic and aggressive persecution of these homosexual males would be led by the Chief of German Police, Heinrich Himmler (Goda 149); it would be under his command that the first suspects recorded by the police since 1900 would fall (Crowe 144). For example, by 1936, a special unit called the Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion would be known to persecute not only homosexuals but abortion practitioners with the idea that these two groups’ depraved sexuality and were “national diseases” (Mitchell 242). Under this top-secret office,

A research on gay parenting done by Mark Regnerus, interviewed 15,000 people. “Among his findings, published in the journal Social Science Research in July 2012, were that children raised by parents with same-sex romantic relationships fared worse than average on variables ”social, emotional, and relational outcome variables”(Regnerus, Looking at the research on gay parenting).People have had thoughts on whether homosexuals should have custody of a child or let along be able to adopt a child because of the fear of mental effects or physical on a child. I believe that homosexuals should not be able to adopt a child because of emotional stress, it effects religion, and because the child faces different environmental factors.

Numerous studies have been conducted on various facets of gay relationships. Focusing on the levels of interaction, and people’s ability to love a child just like any other straight couple. When individuals who have no clue about gay marriage or even gay families start to think and question the issue it sounds like, ‘Wait, isn’t having gay parents hard on the children?’ People immediately jump to conclusions because they haven’t done research or even tried to observe the situation itself. The talk about gay adoption is becoming more relevant in the world. There is a rising amount of open same-sex couples everywhere and many of them would love to have kids, but it’s still illegal for same-sex couples to adopt children in the U.S., let alone

These required lesbian mothers to maintain a sanitized image of their relationships and family; consequently, this evaded honest conversations regarding the challenges of parenting as a lesbian mother (Epstein 2012; Garner 2004). Deriving from these custody struggles, the demonization of lesbian mothers entrenched pop culture, and attitudes which continue to prevail today (Epstein 2012). Most significantly, this contentious history of lesbian motherhood premised on moralistic interpretations about who has the right to parent provides insight into the reciprocal dynamic between social conditions and the absence of lesbian mothers in pop

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination of an individual on the basis of their race, sex, religion, or national origin fails to provide federal protection to individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation. The fact that this landmark federal policy does not include civil rights protection for homosexuals has put them at a disadvantage legally and socially. Although social attitudes towards homosexuality are slowly progressing, erroneous myths and bias attitudes within the legal system continue to persist. Since homosexuals are not legally protected, these myths within the judicial system are allowed to flourish. Judges' biases and prejudicial viewpoints contribute to the

Yet, their unions are considered valid and they reap the full benefits of matrimony afforded to any heterosexual pair. For the purpose of raising children, gay rights opponents argue that children do not belong in households headed by two people of the same sex. They worry that children living in such an environment will grow to be confused, and will be raised in unfavorable social conditions. Moreover, religious leaders who oppose gay rights reason that it is unjustifiable for the gay community to equate their fight for rights and recognition to that of racial equality. They argue that homosexuality is an immoral, chosen behavior that does not deserve special protection under the law, perhaps insinuating that gay individuals are only a fraction of the worth that any other human being is.

This paper discusses same-sex parenting and some of the situations they have experienced. I will be discussing how this same sex pair handles family life, their demographics in relation to class material and Family Systems Theory as well as personal and professional application in their situation. There are a number of same sex parents in society today. Same sex families are no different from other families, but there are a few unique challenges that occasionally arise. Same sex parents still have a very effective style of parenting. I can see how a child’s success still comes from the quality of the parent-child relationships.