For the past three years, Jesse Greene, journalist for the New York Magazine, has been focused on the insight of the relationships and lives of people in the L(esbian)G(ay)B(isexual)T(ransgender) community. In the article, From “I do” to “I’m done”, he writes about a gay couple, Kevin Muir and Sam Ritchie, who have been together since 1997. They have been in a relationship much like a normal couple would, they lived with each other, they had shared real estate, credit cards, etc. Jesse describes them as having a happy and healthy relationship after they got married on May 8th, 2004. Going into their marriage, the desire for children became more serious and they began to look into adoption. Jesse describes their journey through the …show more content…
The editors of The Slant are: Stephanie Fairyington, a present freelanced writer for New York. She is a former fact-checker and her work has appeared on CNN, Huffington Post, the New York Observer, and many other news sources. The next editor is Shirley Velasquez. She too is a freelanced editor and writer who was a researcher for Rolling Stone and Women’s Health. Her work has appeared in Glamour, Woman’s Day, The New York Sun, Patriot Acts: Narratives of Post-9/11 Injustice (McSweeney’s/Voice of Witness) and many other places. These two well knows writers decided to interview Jesse Greene because of a memoir he wrote called The Velveteen Father: An Unexpected Journey to Parenthood, lives in Brooklyn Heights with his partner and two sons.
When he began his studies of identity and sexuality on young children, he worked with expert psychiatrists, psychologist, and social workers in New York to understand gender dysmorphia, a condition in which one’s “biological gender” does not match one’s self-perception or “brain gender.” Through his help, he was able to find families dealing with a child going through this condition at a young age. Going into is study, he had a stereotypical view of transgender, gay and lesbian individual but, ironically, he was gay himself. For 11 months, he interviewed 30 people and their families to see what children deal with when they feel like they don’t belong to their gender and
What if you had a child who was experiencing gender dysphoria? A child who didn’t feel that they were comfortable being the gender that they were born into? What would you do if your child wanted to become the opposite gender? In the documentary “Growing up Trans” (TV Episode 2015) Children who are experiencing gender dysphoria tell their stories about what it’s like growing up transgender. The documentary offers insight on the issues and complications the children and their parents face while transitioning.
In her article A Boy’s Life, Hanna Rosin gives us a glimpse at what some of these transgender children go through. As she follows the life of Brandon (later called Bridget), she unveils a range of hurdles that kids like him and his parents must overcome. Problems like social rejection, gender identification, and the anxiety that all of this creates becomes the usual for a family like Brandon’s. But even so, all of this is minimal in comparison to the huge decision that the parents must make in behalf of the child. In the article, Rosin reveals to us that scientists have come up with a way to prevent a kid’s development into
Scholars have been critical of the medical establishment’s and state’s involvement in constructing and policing of transgender identity. These kinds of pressing issues have occupied the small existing literature. There is not much information and studying what is being done on transgender in traditional areas, family studies research, such as their dating behavior and formation of intimate relationships in adulthood. There is little research on the issues around being parents, their children’s experiences with having transgendered parents, as well as relationships in the family as a whole, and relationships in work and school.
With the establishment of these gender identity clinics, and the financial backing of philanthropist Reed Erickson, a transsexual man, the health care needs of transsexual people gained increased attention and support. Despite this new attention, the clinics used Benjamin’s model of “true” transsexuals. This differentiation between “true” transsexuals and other gender variants became a serious and highly important diagnostic decision as gender affirming surgeries were irreversible. This resulted in many transsexual individuals to be denied access to hormones and surgery. Specifically, transsexual men encountered difficulties, as transsexuality was primarily seen as a male-to-female only transition. In fact, during the late 1960s the United States leading UCLA Gender Identity Research Clinic debated whether trans men should be considered transsexuals. Many trans men themselves did not label themselves as transsexuals as they only knew about other transsexual women (Meyerowitz, 2002; Beemyn, 2014).
We have all seen the classic television scene, where a happy family consisting of one mother, one father, and two children is hovered around a table or a couch. Although still prominent, this scene is becoming less common nowadays as more families become non-traditional. More families than ever are consisting of one mother and children, one father and children, grandparents and children, and even two mothers or two fathers and children. These households, although not what most people consider a normal household, are becoming more common and regular in today’s society. Homosexual parents and families are indeed different from more traditional families, but not for the worse. This trend is not increasing
After an individual fails to meet the normal expectations, they find themselves seeking other spheres where they can be accepted with their unique and non-conventional identities. Andrew Solomon, for example, struggles to meet the expectation of his mother and the society concerning his sexual orientation. At 19 years of age, he tries a therapy that was expected to change his sexual orientation. He “exercises” with various women to meet these expectations. However, in his adulthood, the rejection of Solomon’s sexual orientation and his failure to meet what the society and his mother expected of him led him to find other spheres where his identity could be accepted. He states that in his adulthood; “being gay is an identity; the tragic narrative my parents feared for me is no longer inevitable. The happy life I now lead was unimaginable…” (Solomon 381). In essence, Solomon found his true identity, and this also allowed him to seek for relationships with other people who accepted his true identity. He finds it easy to associate and identify with other disabled people who he considers as minorities and whose identities run parallel to his such as those with autism and
Still today I cannot relate to anything that’s going on with my daughter, but I am accepting it”, in obvious discuss, hurt and shame. [Debating Diversity, ’02, R. Takaki] HOM quoting Lee goes on to say: “I was hoping that it was a stage she’s going through and that she could change”. Again cognitive dissonance rears its Janus Face again in the naïve thinking of Ms Lee’s believe that her daughter’s same-sexual gender travails are only superficialities that are motivated by the capricious actions that come along with youth. Life’s choices of a sexual partner are more in-depth and substantive than that.
The conception that lesbians and gay men may be parents is frequently perceived in today 's society as impossible or immoral. Gay men and lesbians are often viewed as excluded from having children because sexual reproduction is related to men and women couples only. My approach to this uniquely controversial topic of gay parenting will be that of attempting to analyze the pro side. Gays and lesbians are human too and who is to say that they don 't deserve equal rights in society. Society has to realize that the modern family has developed into many different forms in recent years in that the traditional "nuclear family" is not necessarily the
Lisa and Terri, an unmarried lesbian couple, are preparing to adopt two children and those two children are sisters. While at court for the adoption the lawyer in court asks them “What are you going to do about a male role model for these girls?”, they pause and have to take a moment to answer. Both Lisa and Terri say that they have brothers of the family that could be a good role model to look up to for the two sisters. Even though they were not allowed a joint adoption for the children together, both Lisa and Terri adopt one of the sisters. Lisa and Terri are one of the many gay couples who want to adopt. There are many loving and caring same-sex couples out there who are willing and wanting to adopt. Same-sex couples can petition for a
Martin and Lewis walk into the building, heads held high with smiles on their faces. Lewis grabs Martin’s hand and squeezes it, a nervous gesture. Walking to the front, Martin takes a clipboard from the unperturbed lady at the desk. As they fill out their information, a few Housewife Kelly and Lawyer John couples stare at Martin and Lewis with disdain. Martin whispers words of encouragement to Lewis who is visibly upset while they wait to be called back to a small, dimly lit room in the back. When they are finally interviewed, the glasses-faced women tell them that “this just isn’t going to work out”. Martin and Lewis leave, disconsolate and enraged; this was the sixth adoption center to turn them down. Gay couples should be given the same rights to adopt children as heterosexual couples because it is the gay couple’s right as humans to pursue happiness, their sexuality is not a correlation to their parenting skills, and adoption is a preferable alternative to foster care or homelessness.
In the article “What Does It Mean To Be Transgender” by Robi Ludwig. The article tells of a transgenders point of view about the topic of being transgender and being interview by Robi Ludwig a psychotherapist who questions Ryan Sallans. Doctor Ludwig asks different questions dealing with the transgender topic and what was Ryan’s opinion or response to the question. Since Ryan is a transgender person he understands what people who are going through this serious topic. He tells Dr. Ludwig about what is the meaning of being Transgender and how can you discover or to understand within each questions and answer they
Some people assume gay couples have struggles in their relationships do to them believes and that been gay is a cause to not be a good parent. It is easy to judge others without knowing what it feels like to live a life banished from the acceptance of society. The adoption and foster care screening process is very strict. Recent home visits and interviews of possible candidates to be parents have been examined meticulously. This system is designed to demonstrate those certain individuals who are not qualified to adopt children or be foster parents. All the investigated evidence has showed that gay couples can be good parents. The American Psychological Association, in regards of the research, came up to an observation that demonstrate “not a single study about the children of gay parents or lesbian marriage have any disadvantage from the ones been raised by heterosexual parents". It has also concluded that the “environment provided by gay or lesbian couples is very much like those given by heterosexual parents”. Supporting the children's during their psychosocial growth can lead to a greater individual in the future. Child Welfare League of America, and the North American Council on Adoptable Children agrees that gay couples seeking to adopt children should be evaluated just like other adoptive applicants. (Petit, M. &
On any given day, there are about 428,000 kids in the United States foster care system, and over 100,000 readily available to adopt. Only 53,000- a little over half- were adopted and given permanent homes.(AFCARS data, 2015 p.1) Being that there are this many kids in need of homes all over the country, homosexual couples are a great option for children in need of a home. All over the country, gay couples struggle with discrimination. Although society has evolved to be more open to the idea of homosexuality, there are still people who view them as ¨less¨ than heterosexual couples. In today’s society, adoption is viewed as an opportunity for couple’s to give back and do a good deed. Many times, though, it is not financially possible for families to take in another member. Right now, it is believed that there are about two million homosexual couples interested in adopting.(Gates, 2007 p. 3) With the amount of children in the US that are in need of homes, and the challenges that these kids face, homosexual couples are a good choice for placing these children who are in need.
However, studies have proven that many adolescents with Gender Identity Disorder grew up in families which at least at one time “cross-gender behavior was tolerated or encouraged, often viewed as ‘only a phase.” (Byrd 7)
Lifelong Adoptions hopes that in the upcoming years the average adoptions per year from same sex couples increases. Like Chapter 2 in Marriage, Families, and Relationships: Making Choices in a Diverse Society, the family ecology perspective’s environmental influences on families just as much as families’ influences on their surroundings. In fact, same sex marriages are more likely to have higher income and raise children (Lamanna, 2005). Thus, as the world around us is shifting and becoming a more inclusive society so has the opportunities that same sex couples are receiving.