LGBTQ Families and Motherhood

While the numbers of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender, and queer (LGBTQ) families are not known, research has found that increasing numbers of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered persons, and queers have become parents outside of traditional heterosexual contexts. LGBTQ individuals often become parents through the means of donor inseminations, surrogacy, and adoption. As a result, LGBTQ families are transforming what defines a family. In most countries, nonheterosexual unions are not recognized under the legal construct of marriage and its financial, legal, and social implications. As a consequence, the ways in which marriage and biology define family impacts the ways in with LGBTQ families are acknowledged and accorded rights.