Gay Men: Negotiating Procreative,Father, and Family Identities

Our qualitative study examines the social psychology of gay men’s experiences with their procreative, father, and family identities. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 19 childless gay men and 20 gay men in the United States who have fathered using diverse means excluding heterosexual intercourse. By focusing on men aged 19 – 55 residing primarily in Florida and New York, our novel analysis illuminates how emerging structural opportunities and shifting constraints shape gay men’s procreative consciousness. Findings reveal that gay men’s procreative consciousness evolves throughout men’s life course, and is profoundly shaped by institutions and ruling relations, such as adoption and fertility agencies, assumptions about gay men, and negotiations with birth mothers, partners, and others.     

“We’re Just Family,You Know?” Exploring the Discourses of Family in Gay Parents’ Relational Talk

ABSTRACT

To date, little is known about how gay male parents discursively create and sustain family identity and how they position themselves in relation to the dominant heteronormative discourses of the traditional family. Framed relational dialectics theory – this study explored the meaning(s) of family and fatherhood in married gay fathers’ relational talk. I interviewed 13 married gay parent dyads and conducted follow-up interviews to collect data across time as well as member check initial results. Using contrapuntal analysis, I identified the discourses of traditional family structure and nontraditional family structure at play. I argue that the couples’ talk reflected discursive struggles to generate relational meanings for their family identities.     

“My Adoptive Father”

Abstract

Gay men's intimate life worlds have been the topic of some empirical inquiry since the late twentieth century. Drawing on the symbolism of love, friendship, and biology, these studies discuss the recent changes in queer communities that have shaped contemporary discourse about gay and lesbian family life. What appears missing in these intimate accounts are the lesser known readings of gay male intimate relationships which are both sensitive to the complex, interactive, and often contradictory experiences of everyday family life and attentive to the contextual ways these stories become constructed. This paper is a presentation of an experimental case study narrative which grapples with the practical, everyday considerations of what it means to create and sustain a supportive familial relationship between two gay men. Documenting the complexities of this contemporary familial arrangement provides us with some important opportunities for gay storytelling. In this instance, it allowed the author to better understand how two gay men like Ted and Simon came to construct their own notions of a father-son relationship. It also encourages us to explore how new gay identities and relationships are forged and negotiated over time through the biographical lens of family membership.     

Stigma and family relationships of middle-aged gay men in recovery

The primary objective of this study was to explore how middle-aged gay men in recovery cope with stigma and family relationships. For gay men, perceptions of acceptance of their sexual orientation and degree of social connectedness can play a role in their recovery from alcohol and substance use disorders. Yet gay men may have a more difficult time accessing certain family-level health resources because their families of origin may stigmatize, reject, or silence them on account of their sexual orientation. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore how participants in recovery constructed and coped with their experiences of stigma, family relationships, and alcohol and substance use. Participants (30 gay men ages 50 to 64) completed a questionnaire and interview. We used constructivist grounded theory method and minority stress theory as a theoretical framework to interpret the data. We identified the following themes: Internalization of Stigma, Changes in Coping Strategies, and Ongoing Stigma. Future research should explore how to incorporate familial support into gay men's recovery, address ongoing internalized stigma, and develop a social response to stigma, rather than leaving it to individuals to confront on their own.     

Jewish Gay Men's Accounts of Negotiating Cultural,Religious, and Sexual Identity

Abstract

Research on the construction of lesbian and gay identity has represented this process as carrying considerable potential for in-trapsychic and interpersonal stress and conflict. This process may be rendered even more psychologically challenging for those whose identities feature salient components that are not easily reconciled with a lesbian or gay identity. An example of this is the simultaneous holding of Jewish and gay identities. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study of 21 Jewish gay men in Britain. Participants were interviewed about the development of their gay identity, the relationship between their gay identity and their Jewish identity, the psychological and social implications of holding these identities, and strategies for managing any difficulties associated with this. Data were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. All but one of the men reported experiences of identity conflict, arising mainly from the perceived incompatibility of Jewish and gay identities. This was said to have impacted negatively upon their psychological well-being. Those who had received negative reactions to the disclosure of sexual identity within Jewish contexts often attributed this to an anti-gay stance within Judaism and a concern with ensuring the continuation of the Jewish people. Various strategies were said to have been used to manage identity threat, including compartmentalizing Jewish and gay identity and revising the content or salience of Jewish identity. Recommendations are offered for psychological interventions which could help Jewish gay men manage identity conflict.     

Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Aging into the Twenty-First Century: An Overview and Introduction

This paper provides an introduction and overview for the papers in the special issue of this Journal devoted to the latter half of life among gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals. Key issues are highlighted in terms of their impact on gay, lesbian, and bisexual cultural communities: the impact of the large aging population of baby boomers; the significance of age as a social organizer; and the areas of research included in this special issue (intimacy and relationships, HIV and AIDS among elders, and the identities and needs of those growing into middle and later life).     

Racial and Sexual Identities of Asian American Gay Men

ABSTRACT

This paper reports results of two studies about the racial and sexual identities of Asian American gay men. In the first study, 32 Asian American gay men completed measures assessing racial and sexual identity attitudes. Results suggested that Assimilationists had the most negative sexual identity attitudes, followed by Marginalists and Separationists, with Integrationists having the most positive sexual identity attitudes. Study 2 was a qualitative study based on interviews with 10 of the participants in Study 1. Twenty-nine themes were identified and grouped under five domains (personal background, coming out, being Asian in the U.S., being gay in the U.S., and multiple identities). Most themes were related to the parallel and interactive processes between participants' racial and sexual identity development. Practical and research implications are discussed.     

Relationships and identity of gay men in Mexico: A qualitative approach

Relationships are a fundamental element of human and social interactions because they provide us with meanings around physical and abstract objects that allow us to make sense of our reality and identities. There is little Mexican research regarding how gay men construct a sense of identity through their social interactions. This article describes the relationships that gay men in Mexico City have within their families, with their friends, and with their partners. Fifteen in-depth interviews are analyzed through elements of Grounded Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis. Results show that family reproduced homophobia with participants that taught them that their gay identity is socially unaccepted. This is deconstructed through friendships with other gay men. Partner relationships are lived as one of the last milestones in the construction of a gay identity. Some men question hegemonic values around sexuality through polyamorous and polygamous relationships. Conclusions show the importance of these social relationships for gay men's emotional well-being, but that their relationships are often impacted by cultural and interpersonal homophobia.     

ANTICIPATORY AND ACTUALIZED IDENTITIES: A Cultural Analysis of the Transition from AIDS Disability to Work

Throughout the course of their lives, many people living with HIV/AIDS have prematurely retired onto AIDS disability. A new trend, however, has swept across the nation. Where once people were getting sick, leaving work, and embracing inevitable death, now, with advances in medical technology, many people with HIV/AIDS are renewing their lease on life and discovering a desire to go back to work. To learn how gay men's identities are impacted as they transition from AIDS disability back to the labor market, I conducted three months of fieldwork at an employment placement agency in San Francisco. During fieldwork I distributed informal questionnaires to 120 gay men and then formally interviewed 10 additional gay men who had either transitioned or were considering transitioning from AIDS disability back to work. Analyses reveal that cultural, structural, and medical contradictions typify the return to work. As gay men experience and live through these contradictions, their identities split into anticipatory and actualized components. By facilitating a reassessment of meanings and values, anticipatory identities cognitively and emotionally prepare individuals as they brave the road back to work. This version of identity represents a romanticized confluence of worker (role) identity, gay (status/master) identity, and overall sense of self (self-concept). Personal experiences with stigma, shame, and discrimination along with complexities of the workplace and medical services, however, prevent the maturation of anticipatory identities when seeking reemployment. This results in loosely coupled and situationally informed actualized identities . The relationship between these two identities suggests that many people living with HIV/AIDS—and indeed others who experience stressful life transitions—face complex choices between quality-of-life issues and the ability to survive according to external cultural and structural constraints.     

Expanding “Irish Family” Repertoires: Exploring Gay Men's Experiences as Parents in the Republic of Ireland

ABSTRACT

This article explores gay men's parenting experiences and practices in order to seek insight into how gay men accept or challenge heterosexual family norms and how “family” is understood in the Irish context. It is based on small-scale qualitative research (interviews) with seven gay fathers. Despite the limited routes to parenthood for gay men in Ireland, the research findings indicate that the participants enjoy parenting and that they are motivated in their parenting practices. The gay fathers in this study are participative parents who have made significant decisions in their lives in order to prioritize their children's welfare. The diversity of family constellations and care arrangements that surround gay fathering in Ireland can expand family and care repertoires beyond the traditional biparent heterosexual norm. Gay fathers in Ireland appear to enjoy some security at the private familial level and in the responses from their families and communities, but they are keenly aware that nontraditional families are given less status in Irish society. Unlike other jurisdictions, gay parenting is not articulated by the gay fathers in this research as a rights-based argument. Instead, these Irish gay fathers are de facto activists who seek to “humanize” gay parenting.     

Performative family: homosexuality,marriage and intergenerational dynamics in China

Using in‐depth interview data on nominal marriages – legal marriages between a gay man and a lesbian to give the appearance of heterosexuality – this paper develops the concept of performative family to explain the processes through which parents and their adult children negotiate and resolve disagreements in relation to marriage decisions in post‐socialist China. We identify three mechanisms – network pressure, a revised discourse of filial piety and resource leverage – through which parents influence their gay offspring's decision to turn to nominal marriage. We also delineate six strategies, namely minimizing network participation, changing expectations, making partial concessions, drawing the line, delaying decisions and ending the marriage, by which gay people in nominal marriages attempt to meet parental expectations while simultaneously retaining a degree of autonomy. Through these interactions, we argue that Chinese parents and their gay adult children implicitly and explicitly collaborate to perform family, emphasizing the importance of formally meeting society's expectations about marriage rather than substantively yielding to its demands. We also argue that the performative family is a pragmatic response to the tension between the persistent centrality of family and marriage and the rising tide of individualism in post‐socialist China. We believe that our findings highlight the specific predicament of homosexual people. They also shed light on the more general dynamics of intergenerational negotiation because there is evidence that the mechanisms used by parents to exert influence may well be similar between gay and non‐gay people.     

Gay and Lesbian Couples at Home: Identity Work in Domestic Space

ABSTRACT

Social research into gay/lesbian experiences of home has tended to posit domestic environments as alienating for gay/lesbian subjects, silencing their sexual identities. Meanwhile, work on the spatiality of sexual identity more broadly has largely focused on individuals or communities, not couples or households. In this context, this article aims to recover the importance of home for gay/lesbian couples. I explore how cohabiting gay/lesbian couples generate shared identities through domestic space, examining various ways in which these couples use homes to establish and consolidate their partnerships. Empirical data is drawn from twenty-three in-depth interviews with gay/lesbian Australians who are cohabiting, or have cohabited, with a long-term partner. The sample is largely limited to white, educated, middle-class gay men and lesbians living in urban Australia, providing an ethnographic window into the domestic identity-formation of a particular community of practice. Four key themes regarding “coupled identities” at home emerged from the interviews: (i) the importance of privacy and control at home for enabling gay/lesbian partnerships; (ii) the negotiated creation and use of shared domestic spaces; (iii) the accumulation and arrangement of household objects in those domestic spaces; and (iv) the importance of maintaining separate “personal” spaces for each partner for the well-being of the relationship.     

Lifestyles and identity maintenance among gay Japanese-American males

An exploratory study of thirteen Japanese-American gay men residing in the Los Angeles area found that those men who had disclosed their sexual orientation to family members were more likely to express more positive attitudes concerning a variety of issues. Detailed personal accounts of these patterns are presented along with discussions of how Asian homosexuals maintain their “double-minority” identities as both Japanese and gay.     

The Second Closet: A Qualitative Study of HIV Stigma Among Seropositive Gay Men in a Southern U.S. City

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Stigma connected with HIV/AIDS has decreased considerably since the early epidemic yet affects those living with HIV in many ways. Little research, particularly qualitative research, concerning HIV stigma from the perspective of gay men has emerged. The present qualitative study aimed to fill this evidence gap by examining how HIV stigma is perceived and experienced by gay men who have become HIV-infected and how they respond to this stigma. Methods: Thematic analysis of 19 gay men's narratives identified six main themes. Results: Encountering HIV stigmatization was common and was linked to the physical stigmata identifying respondents as HIV-positive. Overwhelmingly, they found stigmatization to be most intensely felt within gay communities. One profound theme was internalized HIV stigma, referring to respondents’ internalized negative feelings about their HIV status. A related theme was the closeted nature of HIV. Lastly, regarding how the men dealt with the HIV diagnosis and experiences of HIV stigma, a theme of adaptation became clear. Conclusions: Although exploratory, the results can serve as a beginning framework for understanding and assisting seropositive gay men who experience HIV stigma. The findings are important because it is realistic to expect that in a climate in which HIV has become increasingly invisible and closeted and in which infections are on the rise, gay and bisexual men will be increasingly affected and infected by HIV.     

Conceptualizations of Family by Older Gay Men

SUMMARY

Gay lives challenge historically dominant understandings of family. Given that definitions of family have been heterosexually based, how do non-heterosexuals define and understand “family?” Drawing from the family life course perspective, we propose that contemporary cohorts of older gay men represent a strategic vantage point for understanding innovations in family life, and thus expand current understandings of a gay life course. We use data from an interview study of gay men over the age of 50 who talked about their family relationships. While providing diverse definitions of family, biological ties and closeness were two consistent dimensions for defining both positive and negative family relationships by these older gay men. Narratives of coming out were central to discussions of current relationships with parents and children. The findings from this study indicate that sexual orientation influences life trajectories and transitions and point to useful avenues for further research on contemporary family life.     

Wrestling with the Angels of Meaning: The Revisionist Ideological Work of Gay and Ex‐Gay Christian Men

Ideological change is arduous and complex work, particularly for marginalized groups that lack the power and authority to challenge dominant ideas. This study analyzes how subordinates can accomplish ideological change and under what conditions such change is likely to occur. More specifically, in this ethnographic study of two groups of men—gay Christian and ex‐gay Christian—I map a process of “ideological maneuvering” by which the men were able to sidestep dominant power and revise traditional Christian ideology in ways that accommodated their sexuality. In doing so, the men were able to construct moral identities and mitigate psychological distress. On a broader level, an examination of this process reveals how ideological revision is constrained by and reproduces inequality. We also see how this process helps to create new symbolic resources that can be used to expand culture.     

Psychological Flexibility and Self-Compassion in Gay and Heterosexual Men: How They Relate to Childhood Memories,Shame, and Depressive Symptoms

This study explores differences between men who are gay (n = 53) and men who are heterosexual (n = 52) regarding memories of shame events and of warmth and safeness experiences with parents during childhood and adolescence, self-compassion, psychological flexibility, internal shame, and depression. Also, it aims to explore whether psychological flexibility and self-compassion play a role in the association between these memories and internal shame and depressive symptoms. Results confirmed the mediating role of psychological flexibility and self-compassion. These findings suggest the appropriateness of promoting acceptance and self-compassion towards difficult memories in a therapeutic setting with men who are gay experiencing shame and depressive symptoms.     

Firm friends: exploring the supportive components in gay men's workplace friendships

Research shows that friendships are among the most important sources of support for gay men. Despite insights into how friends can be significant providers of emotional, practical and affirmational support, particularly when gay men 'come out' or experience discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, scholars have rarely considered the role of work friends in supporting gay men in the workplace. This is remarkable given that work organisations remain challenging arenas for sexual minority employees to fashion a meaningful sense of self. Drawing on in-depth interview data with twenty-eight gay men employed in the UK, this article argues that gay men can rely on work friends for different forms of support in helping them to negotiate and sustain a viable sense of self. The findings show how the gender and sexuality of organisation influences which men and women are available as work friends, and the types of support they might give. Also, the affirmational support received from work friends is important not only for validating participants' sexual identities, but also identities of class and parenthood. The study aims to complicate stereotypes of men's workplace friendships as sources of support used largely for advancing careers and personal gain.