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Qual Sociol (2009) 32:153172
DOI 10.1007/s11133-009-9124-6
Maura Ryan & Dana Berkowitz
Published online: 5 March 2009# Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009
Abstract This paper provides a multilayered analysis of how lesbian mothers and gay fathers construct their families in a social context that has been described by Steven Seidman (2004) as beyond the closet. We stress how our participants family-building experiences are comparable to other non-biologically related families, but distinct due to heterosexual dominance. Using in-depth qualitative interviews with 18 lesbian birth mothers and 22 gay fathers, the authors discuss how participants navigate heterosexual dominance in institutions and in personal interactions.
Keywords Gay . Lesbian . Family . Heterosexism . Homophobia
Gay men and lesbians today have more opportunities to create families than ever before (Berkowitz 2008). Such opportunities are an amalgamation of the modern gay and lesbian movement (Bernstein and Reimann 2001; Lewin 1993), transformations in cultural ideologies, broad changes in families (Coontz 2000; Stacey 1996), and revolutions in medical technology (Lev 2006; Stacey 1996). Still, the creation of a gay or lesbian parent family inevitably requires the reproductive assistance of parties outside of the same-sex couples who wish to create families. This paper provides a multilayered analysis of how lesbian mothers and gay fathers construct their families where negotiating non-biological relatedness is a necessary aspect of their endeavors. We highlight that while such negotiations also hold true for many infertile and adoptive heterosexual couples, gay and lesbian parents differ in that they face an added layer of complexity as they confront heterosexism in family-building bureaucracies and traverse a social terrain where they are visible as non-biologically related families.
M. Ryan (*)
Department of Sociology, University of Florida, 3219 Turlington Hall, P.O. Box 117330, Gainesville, FL 32611, USAe-mail: [email protected]
D. Berkowitz
Department of Sociology, 126 Stubbs Hall, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Constructing Gay and Lesbian Parent Families Beyond the Closet
154 Qual Sociol (2009) 32:153172
To explain this, we employ our 40 interviews with lesbian mothers and gay fathers as another piece of empirical evidence that sustains Seidmans (2004) notion that for many gay and lesbian individuals, subjectivities and experiences are forged beyond the closet, in that many gays and lesbians do not have to live...