Children With LGBQ Parents, Female/Male Role Models

This entry describes the female and male role models of children with parents who are not heterosexual. Beginning with a review of the processes by which role models influence children’s social and identity development, the entry continues with a description of the role models that exist in the lives of children with LGBQ parents. Finally, the entry addresses the possibility that heterosexism is at the root of concern about male/female role models for children with LGBQ parents. Suggesting that children with same-sex parents need a model of the other gender is a reflection of the heterosexual family as the standard that other families must emulate. Under this model, nonheterosexual parents are expected to find ways to compensate for differences in family structure. The entry also ...