Same-sex parenting and children’s outcomes: A closer examination of the American psychological association’s brief on lesbian and gay parenting

In 2005, the American Psychological Association (APA) issued an official brief on lesbian and gay parenting. This brief included the assertion: “Not a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents” (p. 15). The present article closely examines this assertion and the 59 published studies cited by the APA to support it. Seven central questions address: (1) homogeneous sampling, (2) absence of comparison groups, (3) comparison group characteristics, (4) contradictory data, (5) the limited scope of children’s outcomes studied, (6) paucity of long-term outcome data, and (7) lack of APA-urged statistical power. The conclusion is that strong assertions, including those made by the APA, were not empirically warranted. Recommendations for future research are offered.     

Sexual orientation and the European Convention on Human Rights: What of the “L” in LGBT?

Abstract

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has long been celebrated for its role in advancing LGBT rights. This article adopts an intersectional feminist approach in order to critically examine the trajectory of the Court’s LGBT case-law from a gendered perspective. In doing so, it foregrounds the portrayal, experience and, indeed, invisibility of lesbian applicants. Adopting an intersectional approach that considers the gender dimension of sexual orientation claims provides a somewhat different perspective on the struggle for LGBT rights before the ECtHR and suggests that lesbian voices and experiences have been marginalized and excluded in the struggle for LGBT rights.     

The Grandmother Role as Experienced by Lesbian Women

ABSTRACT

This study explores the grandmother role as experienced by a nonrandom sample of nine lesbian women. It examines how they define the grandmother role, and the behaviors and actions through which they enact the role. During individual interviews each woman was asked to talk about what makes a woman a good grandmother, memories of her own grandmothers, and the relationship she has with one or more of her grandchildren. The effect of her sexual orientation on the relationship was not explored. These women define the grandmother role as providing emotional support to their grandchildren, providing varied experiences for their grandchildren, and providing support for the parents of their grandchildren.     

Whose Problem is This?

Abstract

This paper is concerned with how the needs of lesbian and gay youth are situated and defined in educational contexts and the intended and unintended consequences of framing their needs in particular ways. It is based on a case study of a senior college in New Zealand where a strategy for dealing with gay and lesbian youth was framed within a climate of market-driven educational reforms and where queer youth were viewed within the discourse of being “at risk.” This enabled the school to promote itself as providing a caring and nurturing environment without jeopardizing its position in the marketplace. However, this strategy had the unfortunate consequences of re-pathologizing lesbian and gay students and constructing their sexuality as a personal problem.     

Is There a Primary Mom? Parental Perceptions of Attachment Bond Hierarchies Within Lesbian Adoptive Families

Basic tenets of attachment theory were evaluated in a qualitative study of 15 lesbian couples with internationally adopted children, focusing on parental perceptions of a primary mother-child attachment within the families. Interviews with 30 mothers examined variables affecting the hierarchy of parenting bonds, including division of labor, time with the child, and parental legal status. All children developed attachments to both mothers, but 12 of the 15 had primary bonds to one mother despite shared parenting and division of labor between the partners. Quality of maternal caretaking was a salient contributing factor; no significant relationship existed between primary parenting and parental legal status.     

The study of language variation and change: Changes in progress?

Book reviewed in this article:
J. K. Chambers, Peter Trudgill and Natalie Schilling–Estes (eds.), The Handbook of Language Variation and Change     

‘But is it linguistics?’: Breaking down boundaries

Book reviewed in this article:
Rajend Mesthrie (ed.), Concise Encyclopedia of Sociolinguistics     

We Are Family: I Got All My Sisters with Me!

SUMMARY

This article introduces the reader to an unusual family of choice: a 10-year-old Internet listserv for a “family” of lesbian nuns. The purpose of this listserv, and reasons for belonging to it, are described, including as context the unique psychosocial situation of lesbian nuns. The author includes such “family dynamics” as personality differences, the presence of a famous family member, inclusion/exclusion, stability/change, and dealing with differences. Issues of privacy, danger from outside the “family,” and being stigmatized are acknowledged. The author comments on the unique qualities of a “cyber-family” and compares the listserv with other kinds of families.     

Sexuality and the city: exploring the experience of minority sexual identity through storytelling

This article explores the discursive construction of sexual identity through organizational storytelling, in the London office of a global investment bank, InvestCo. Work on the identity of sexual minorities in work organizations is rare, and even more so in the context of an institution such as a bank. Minority sexual identities have largely been ignored by the organizational studies and diversity literatures, but organizations and the researchers who study them, are starting to turn their attention to this previously silenced population. A major difficulty for researchers in this area, and one which has been well researched and documented in other areas of identity construction, is how to access and research this area. This article puts forward the idea that storytelling is an effective way of exploring this still sensitive topic. The results of the research are presented according to different ways in which minority sexual identity is constructed in organizations. This includes a discussion of social identities, displayed and hidden identities, changing identities, accepted and castigated identities and finally congruent and incongruent identities. The article also identifies themes which emerge from the stories about the stories themselves; themes of hidden identities, mistakes, victimhood and resistance. Although of relevance to those interested in the experience of sexual minorities in organizations, the storytelling discursive approach opens up the subject's experiences to a wider audience interested in diversity, discourse theory, ethnography and organizational life in general. The level of access is unusual and the double level story telling research approach could be of use in other areas.     

Working with Lesbian,Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Abuse Survivors

Abstract

While the new economic globalization provides the overarching context for human development, the influence of political economy on personal values, beliefs, and behaviors is not usually directly addressed in the HBSE texts and coursework. Making the connections between the dimly visible structures of global capitalism and the lives of students and clients in the U.S. is challenging. This paper makes a case for the inclusion of content on globalization in HBSE and presents two dynamic “experiments” aimed at increasing student insight into the political and economic roots of human behavior in Western society.