Race and ethnicity in the lives of sexual minority parents and their children

Abstract

In this chapter we review the body of research on racial and sexual minority parenting in the USA and internationally. Findings in this literature point us toward broader conceptualizations of sexual minority parenthood that include stepparenting, kin care, and parenting in the context of heterosexual unions while maintaining a lesbian or gay identity. In addition, these findings challenge scholars to think more inclusively about what issues are relevant to sexual minority parents and children. Issues ranked as important by sexual minority parents themselves, such as welfare and immigration policies, are often neglected in scholarship that focuses disproportionately on parents' gender and sexuality; this scholarship does not account for race, nationality, or other variance among these families. As much as this review provides important variation in the experiences of sexual minority families, it also challenges the academic community to substantially broaden its scope when studying same-sex parenting. The chapter concludes with directions for future research.