Реферат: Gay Parenting Essay Research Paper Lesbian and

in toy preferences, activities, interests, or occupational choices.

Rees (1979) administered the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) to 24 adolescents, half of whom had divorced lesbian and half

of whom had divorced heterosexual mothers. The BSRI yields scores on masculinity and femininity as independent factors and

an androgyny score from the ratio of masculinity to femininity. Children of lesbian and heterosexual mothers did not differ on

masculinity or on androgyny, but children of lesbian mothers reported greater psychological femininity than did those of

heterosexual mothers. This result would seem to run counter to expectations based on stereotypes of lesbians as lacking in

femininity, both in their own demeanor and in their likely influences on children.

Sex role behavior of children was also assessed by Green and his colleagues (1986). In interviews with the children, no

differences between 56 children of lesbian and 48 children of heterosexual mothers were found with respect to favorite

television programs, favorite television characters, or favorite games or toys. There was some indication in interviews with

children themselves that the offspring of lesbian mothers had less sex-typed preferences for activities at school and in their

neighborhoods than did children of heterosexual mothers. Consistent with this result, lesbian mothers were also more likely than

heterosexual mothers to report that their daughters often participated in rough-and-tumble play or occasionally played with

"masculine" toys such as trucks or guns; however, they reported no differences in these areas for sons. Lesbian mothers were

no more or less likely than heterosexual mothers to report that their children often played with "feminine" toys such as dolls. In

both family types, however, children’s sex-role behavior was seen as falling within normal limits.

In summary, the research suggests that children of lesbian mothers develop patterns of gender-role behavior that are much like

those of other children.

No data are available as yet in this area for children of gay fathers.

Sexual Orientation. A number of investigators have also studied a third component of sexual identity: sexual orientation

(Bailey, Bobrow, Wolfe, & Mikach, 1995; Bozett, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1989; Gottman, 1990; Golombok et al., 1983; Green,

1978; Huggins, 1989; Miller, 1979; Paul, 1986; Rees, 1979). In all studies, the great majority of offspring of both gay fathers

and lesbian mothers described themselves as heterosexual. Taken together, the data do not suggest elevated rates of

homosexuality among the offspring of lesbian or gay parents. For instance, Huggins (1989) interviewed 36 teenagers, half of

whom were offspring of lesbian mothers and half of heterosexual mothers. No children of lesbian mothers identified themselves

as lesbian or gay, but one child of a heterosexual mother did; this difference was not statistically significant. In a recent study,

Bailey and his colleagues (1995) studied adult sons of gay fathers and found more than 90% of the sons to be heterosexual.

Because the heterosexual and nonheterosexual sons did not differ in

the length of time they had resided with their fathers, the effects of the exposure to the fathers’ sexual orientation on the sons’