Nonheterosexual Children of LGBTQ Parents

Although LGBTQ people have always been parents, it is only in the past few decades that they have been able to do so without fear of negative legal and social consequences. The children of LGBTQ people have been analyzed in social science research, and build their lives under the critical gaze of public opinion. LGBTQ parents experience pressure to ensure that their children are heterosexual and gender-normative, which have been presumed to be more optimal outcomes. This pressure has burdened these families to conform to societal heteronormative assumptions, and this has downplayed honest discourse regarding the complexity of children’s developing gender identity and sexual orientation living in LGBTQ families. Although most children growing up in LGBTQ-parent families are heterosexual and gender-conforming, some children in these ...