Реферат: Gay Parenting Essay Research Paper Lesbian and

Gay Parenting Essay, Research Paper

Lesbian and Gay Parenting

I. SUMMARY OF RESEARCH FINDINGS

Charlotte J. Patterson

University of Virginia

Like families headed by heterosexual parents, lesbian and gay parents and their children are a diverse group (Martin, 1993).

Unlike heterosexual parents and their children, however, lesbian and gay parents and their children are often subject to

prejudice because of sexual orientation that turns judges, legislators, professionals, and the public against them, frequently

resulting in negative outcomes such as loss of physical custody, restrictions on visitation, and prohibitions against adoption

(Falk, 1989; Editors of the Harvard Law Review, 1990). As with all socially stigmatized groups, the beliefs held generally in

society about lesbians and gay men are often not based in personal experience, but are instead culturally transmitted (Herek,

1991). The purpose of this summary of research findings on lesbian and gay parents and their children is to assist psychologists

and other professionals to evaluate widespread beliefs in the light of empirical data and in this way ameliorate the negative

effects of unwarranted prejudice.

Because many beliefs about lesbian and gay parents and their children are open to empirical test, psychological research can

evaluate their accuracy. Systematic research comparing lesbian and gay adults to heterosexual adults only began in the late

1950s, and research comparing children of gay and lesbian parents with those of heterosexual parents is of a more recent

vintage. Research on lesbian and gay adults began with Evelyn Hooker’s landmark study (1957) and culminated with the

declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973 (Gonsiorek, 1991). Case reports on children of gay and lesbian

parents began to appear in the psychiatric literature in the early 1970s (e.g., Osman, 1972; Weeks, Derdeyn, & Langman,

1975) and have continued to appear (e.g., Agbayewa, 1984). Beginning with the pioneering work of Martin and Lyon (1972),

first person and fictionalized descriptions of life in lesbian mother families have also become available (e.g., Alpert, 1988;

Clausen, 1985; Jullion, 1985; Mager, 1975; Perreault, 1975; Pollock & Vaughn, 1987; Rafkin, 1990). Systematic research on

the children of lesbian and gay parents did not, however, begin to appear in major professional journals until 1978, and most of

the available research has been published more recently.

As this summary will show, the results of existing research comparing gay and lesbian parents to heterosexual parents and

children of gay or lesbian parents to children of heterosexual parents are quite uniform: common sterotypes are not supported

by the data.

Without denying the clarity of results to date, it is important also for psychologists and other professionals to be aware that

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