Families Beyond Heteronormativity

Abstract

This chapter analyzes how the family structure is gradually reconfigured on the basis of the existence of diverse sexualities. In their roles as same sex couples, as gay and lesbian parents, or as sons and daughters with different sexual orientations or gender identities, LGBTI individuals challenge different religious, moral, and legal conceptions of the family. The chapter focuses on the ways in which case law on sexuality not only widens the legal spaces for recognition of rights, moving the boundaries of the established family as a unique reality, but it also criticizes the characteristic heteronormativity of most legal rationales. In particular, case law is reviewed in three spheres of family rights: same-sex couples, the right to adoption, and child custody.