Lesbian and Gay Parents

Background

I have been writing about lesbian and gay parents for over fifteen years. Over the past decade I have undertaken a number of projects focusing on lesbian mothers. The first of these examined the experiences of Australian lesbian (and gay) foster parents. The second project explored the educational experiences of lesbian mother families in South Australia. This research was widely reported in the media. I have also undertaken research with Suzanne McLaren examining attitudes towards lesbian parenting. In addition, I have undertaken analysis of media representations of lesbian mothers.

My research on surrogacy (with Clemence Due) and sperm donation (including with Brett Scholz) has examined gay men in relation to reproduction. I have also prepared an Information Sheet about LGBT pregnancy loss for the Australian Psychological Society, with Clare Bartholomaeus.

A full list of my research publications on the topic of lesbian and gay parents can be found further down the page, and are drawn on in the applications of research findings sections below.

Applications of research findings for practitioners

Overall the research findings highlight the many different ways in which lesbians and gay men can become parents, and the potential discrimination they may face due to perceptions of their sexuality. For the most part, the research I have undertaken, particularly of media representations of lesbian and gay parents, shows how white heterosexual parenting is positioned as the norm which others both expected to aspire to and are judged against. This is an important point for practitioners to keep in mind, in terms of challenging this norm.

My research with lesbian and gay foster parents found that they relied on supportive agency workers to achieve positive outcomes (e.g. having a child placed with them, supporting them when dealing with other agency workers) (see also Foster Care page). However, this reliance on individual workers, rather than the profession as a whole, meant there was insecurity with knowing how they would fare if other workers became involved. In addition, the research found that lesbian and gay foster parents were typically expected to put the needs of the children in their care first, which meant that at times they felt unable to directly confront the discrimination that they experienced . These findings suggest that there need to be clearer policies to support lesbian and gay foster carers and training for agency workers. In addition, agency workers need to uphold these policies and support all foster carers and potential foster carers.

My research with lesbian mothers with children in primary school found that these mothers had a number of expectations placed upon them, including being required to inform educators about their families, to accept that they were the ones who needed to manage discrimination, and to treat the marginalisation of their families as routine. These findings highlight the significant burden placed on lesbian mothers, which is in stark contrast to the generally straightforward inclusion of heterosexual families. In addition, this research showed that some of the children of lesbian mothers were teased or harassed by other children. For practitioners, these findings highlight the need for educators and schools to address the implicit and subtle effects of privileging heterosexuality which lead to discrimination and marginalisation, and to directly address the use of ‘that’s so gay’ by students in schools. In addition, family diversity should be addressed in areas such as school sex education programmes, and school libraries should include a diverse range of materials, including books featuring non-heterosexual families.

My research with gay men and surrogacy, undertaken with Clemence Due, found that intending parents were not prepared adequately for potential challenges during the process of surrogacy, including pregnancy loss (see also Surrogacy page). Whilst gay men may experience similar issues in regards to surrogacy as other people seeking this option, it is more likely that fewer options to become parents are available to them, and that they may face discrimination and homophobia in this process. This has implications for practitioners who need to understand that gay men who desire to be parents are likely to share similar hopes, dreams, and journeys with regard to parenthood as heterosexual parents. Whilst gay men may have some specific experiences due to being gay men, it is important for practitioners not to view their desires for parenthood as any less valid than those of people who are heterosexual.

Whilst not about parenting per se, my research with gay men who have donated sperm or intend to donate sperm also has findings relevant to gay men and reproduction (see also Sperm Donor Conception page). In particular, the findings from an interview study suggest that gay men may not be aware of other ways to become parents other than via sperm donation (e.g. surrogacy, fostering, co-parenting, adoption). Whilst sperm donation does not directly lead to parenting, some participants spoke about donating as a way to fulfil their reproductive desires. Practitioners may think about being involved in public awareness campaigns to highlight the range of parenting relations that gay men can be engaged in, so that gay men do not donate sperm because they think that’s the only way they can have a child. In addition, the findings from an analysis of sperm donors on an international website suggested that gay men and heterosexual men had different motivations for donating sperm. Again, this has implications for practitioners when discussing reproduction with gay men, as it is important to understand their motivations for donating sperm.

Applications of research findings for (intending) parents and families

My research shows some of the many different ways lesbian and gay people can become parents, including via foster care, lesbian couples or women conceiving using donor sperm, gay couples or men having a child via a surrogate, or via a previous heterosexual relationship.

However, lesbian and gay people may experience discrimination as they seek to become parents and as an ongoing challenge after they become parents. This discrimination may appear as homophobia from other people (including service providers, educators, and so on), institutionalised discrimination where lesbian and gay people do not have the same rights to parenthood as heterosexual people, or implicit discrimination where the presumption is made that all parents are heterosexual.

My research with lesbian and gay foster parents has highlighted that such parents often rely on supportive agency workers, which means they could have issues if other workers became involved. In addition, the research found that lesbian and gay foster parents put the needs of the children in their care first, and often did not directly confront the discrimination that they experienced based on their sexuality. These findings highlight the need for lesbians and gay men to be aware of the potential discrimination they may face when entering the foster care system, and to be aware of mechanisms for challenging it.

The research with lesbian mothers with children in primary school found that these mothers were often required to inform educators about their families, to accept that they needed to manage discrimination themselves, and to accept that their families would be marginalised. In addition, the research shows that some of the children of lesbian mothers were teased or harassed by other children. These findings suggest that lesbian mothers need to be proactive when engaging with their children’s schools, and to continually advocate for the positive treatment of their families and to encourage the school to talk about the diverse forms that families can take.

The research with gay men and surrogacy found that intending parents were not prepared adequately for potential challenges during the process of surrogacy, including pregnancy loss. The findings also highlight that gay men may experience discrimination in the process of surrogacy, and that their desires for parenthood may be viewed as less than for people who are heterosexual. These findings indicate that gay men seeking surrogacy arrangements need to be aware of the many potential challenges they may face, both generally and in relation to being gay men.

Whilst not about parenting directly, my research with gay men who have donated sperm or intend to donate sperm also has findings relevant to gay men and reproduction. In particular, the findings from an interview study suggest that gay men may not be aware of other ways to become parents other than via sperm donation (e.g. surrogacy, fostering, co-parenting, adoption). Whilst sperm donation does not directly lead to parenting, some participants spoke about donating as a way to fulfil their reproductive desires. These findings highlight that gay men who are thinking about becoming sperm donors or who would like to become parents should explore all of their options first, as if they would like to be involved in parenting sperm donation may not be the best option.

Resources for practitioners

Australian

The Bouverie Centre. (2012). Guidelines for healthcare providers working with same-sex parented families. Melbourne: The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University.

International

Child Information Welfare Gateway (US) – Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) families in foster care and adoption

National Resource Center for Adoption, the National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections, and the National Resource Center for Recruitment and Retention of Foster and Adoptive Parents at AdoptUSKids (US) Strategies for recruiting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender foster, adoptive, and kinship families

Resources for (intending) parents and families

Australian

Foster Care Association of Victoria – Support for gay and lesbian foster carers

Gay Dads Australia

Gay Parent magazine

Rainbow Families

Rainbow Families Council

Rainbow Families Queensland

Tomlins, J. (2015). OUTspoken families: Resource kit for rainbow families.

We are Family magazine

Forums

Bub Hub – Same sex parents

Essential Baby – Same-sex parents & parents-to-be (log in to access)

International

NHS Choices (UK) – LGBT paths to parenthood

Books/sources with personal stories

Bucatinsky, D. (2012). Does this baby make me look straight?: Confessions of a gay dad. New York: Simon &​ Schuster.

Gay Dads Australia – David and Glen (surrogacy)

Healthline – The best LGBT parenting blogs of the year

Hirschi, H.M. (2014). Dads: A gay couple’s surrogacy journey in India. Seattle: Amazon Digital Services.

Menichiello, M. (2012). A gay couple’s journey through surrogacy: Intended fathers. New York: Haworth Press.

Miller, A.K. (2010). She looks just like you: A memoir of (nonbiological lesbian) motherhood. Boston: Beacon Press.

Newell, M. (2015). Gayby baby. Documentary.

Warner, J. (2013). The journey of same- sex surrogacy: Discovering ultimate joy. Tennessee: Zygote Publishing.

Westoby, R. (2013). Our “journey”: One couple’s guide to US surrogacy. Seattle: Amazon Digital Services.

Picture books

Assisted Reproduction: Books for Children – Lesbian mothers

Assisted Reproduction: Books for Children – Gay fathers

My research publications

Bartholomaeus, C., & Riggs, D.W. (2016). Homonormativity in representations of gay fathers on television: Reproductive citizenship, gender and intimacy. In R. Garrett, T. Jensen & A. Voela (Eds.), We need to talk about family: Essays on neoliberalism, the family and popular culture (pp. 157-176). Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Riggs, D.W. (forthcoming). Diverse pathways to parenthood: From narratives to practice. Elsevier.

Riggs, D.W. (2018). Making matter matter: Meanings accorded to genetic material among Australian gay men. Reproductive Biomedicine and Society Online, 7, 150-157.

Riggs, D.W. (2016). Gay sperm donors. In A. Goldberg (Ed.) The Sage encyclopedia of LGBTQ studies. London: Sage.

Riggs, D.W. (2014). Australian foster carers’ negotiations of intimacy with agency workers, birth families and children. Families, Relationships and Societies, 4(3), 433-448.

Riggs, D.W. (2012). Non-indigenous lesbians and gay men caring for Indigenous children: An Australian case study. In C. Phellas (Ed.) Researching non-heterosexual sexualities. Surrey: Ashgate.

Riggs, D.W. (2012). “Paradoxes of visibility”: Lesbian and gay parents in the Australian print media. Jindal Global Law Review, 4(1)1-88.

Riggs, D.W. (2011). Australian lesbian and gay foster carers negotiating the child protection system: Strengths and challenges. Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 8(3), 215-226.

Riggs, D.W. (2011). “Let’s go to the movies”: Filmic representations of gay foster and adoptive parents. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 7(3), 297-312

RiggsD.W. (2011). Perceptions of support among Australian lesbian and gay foster carers. In M. Morrison, D.T. McDermott, M.A. Carrigan & T.G. Morrison (Eds.) Sexual minority research in the new millenium. New York: Nova Science.

Riggs, D.W. (2010). The educational experiences of lesbian-mother families: A South Australian studyLES Online, 2(2)3-13.

RiggsD.W. (2010). “I’m not gay, but my four mums are”: Psychological knowledge and lesbian-headed families. Radical Psychology, 9(1).

Riggs, D.W. (2010). Pragmatic imbalances: Australian lesbian and gay foster carers. In. P Gerber & A. Sifris (Eds.), Current trends in the regulation of same-sex relationships. Annandale: Federation Press.

Riggs, D.W. (2009). The health and well-being implications of emotion work undertaken by gay sperm donorsFeminism & Psychology, 19(4), 517-533.

Riggs, D.W. (2008). Attachment theory as a “practice of heterosexism”: Resisting the psychologisation of lesbian and gay foster carers. In J. Nathanson & C. Tuley (Eds.), Mother knows best: Talking back to the baby “experts” (pp. 148-157). Toronto: Demeter Press.

Riggs, D.W. (2008). Lesbian mothers, gay sperm donors, and community: Ensuring the well-being of children and familiesHealth Sociology Review, 17(3)232-240.

Riggs, D.W. (2008). Using multinomial logistic regression analysis to develop a model of Australian gay and heterosexual sperm donors’ motivations and beliefsInternational Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society, 6(2), 106-123.

Riggs, D.W. (2007). Becoming parent: Lesbians, gay men, and family. Teneriffe, QLD: Post Pressed.

Riggs, D.W. (2007). On being “acceptable”: State sanction, race privilege, and lesbian and gay parents. Reconstruction: Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies Journal, 7(1).

Riggs, D.W. (2007). Re-assessing the foster care system: Examining the impact of heterosexism on lesbian and gay applicants. Hypatia, 22(1), 192-212.

Riggs, D.W. (2006). “Proving the case”: Psychology, subjectivity and representations of lesbian and gay parents in the media. In L. Castañeda & S. Campbell (Eds.) News and sexuality: Media portraits of diversity (pp. 235-255). London: Sage.

Riggs, D.W. (2005). Who wants to be a “good parent”? Scientific representations of lesbian and gay parents in the news media. Media-Culture Journal, 8(1).

Riggs, D.W. (2004). Resisting heterosexism in foster carer training: Valuing queer approaches to adult learning and relationality. Canadian Journal of Queer Studies in Education, 1(1).

Riggs, D.W. & Augoustinos, M. (2009). Institutional stressors and individual strengths: Policy and practice directions for working with Australian lesbian and gay foster carers. Practice: Social Work in Action, 21(2), 77-90.

Riggs, D.W. & Augoustinos, M. (2007). Learning difference: Representations of diversity in storybooks for children of lesbian and gay parents. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 3(2-3), 81-95.

Riggs, D.W., & Bartholomaeus, C. (2016). Adoption and foster care discrimination. In A. Goldberg (Ed.) The Sage encyclopedia of LGBTQ studies. London: Sage.

Riggs, D.W. & Dempsey, D. (2015). Gay men’s narratives of pregnancy in the context of commercial surrogacy. In N. Burton (Ed.) Birth and its meanings: Representations of pregnancy, childbirth and parenting. Toronto: Demeter Press.

Riggs, D.W., & Due, C. (2017). Constructions of gay men’s reproductive desires on surrogacy clinic websites. In M. Davies (Ed.) Global babies: Transnational surrogacy and the new politics of reproduction. London: Zed Books.

Riggs, D.W. & Due, C. (2014). Gay fathers’ reproductive journeys and parenting experiences: A review of research. Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care, 40(4), 289-293.

Riggs, D.W. & Due, C. (2010). Gay men, race privilege, and surrogacy in IndiaOutskirts: Feminisms Along the Edge, 22.

Riggs, D.W., Due, C. & Power, J. (2015). Gay men’s experiences of surrogacy clinics in India. Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health, 41(1), 48-53.

Riggs, D.W., Fraser, H., Taylor, N., Signal, T., & Donovan, C. (2018). People of diverse genders and/or sexualities and their animal companions: Experiences of family violence in a bi-national sampleJournal of Family Issues, 39(18), 4226-4247.

Riggs, D.W. & Hanson-Easey, S. (2014). The invisibility of lesbian-mother families in the South Australian Premier’s Reading Challenge. Bookbird: A Journal of International Children’s Literature, 52(1)23-33.

Riggs, D.W., McLaren, S., & Mayes, A.S. (2009). Attitudes toward parenting in a lesbian and gay community convenience sampleJournal of Gay and Lesbian Mental Health. 13(1)51-61.

Riggs, D.W., & Peel, E. (2016). Critical kinship studies: An introduction to the field. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Riggs, D.W. & Russell, L. (2011). Characteristics of men willing to act as sperm donors in the context of identity-release legislationHuman Reproduction, 26(1)266-272

Riggs, D.W. & Scholz, B. (2011). The value and meaning attached to genetic relatedness amongst Australian sperm donorsNew Genetics and Society, 30(1)41-58

Riggs, D.W., Taylor, N., Fraser, H., Donovan, C., & Signal, T. (Online First 2018). The link between domestic violence and abuse and animal cruelty in the intimate relationships of people of diverse genders and/or sexualities: A bi-national studyJournal of Interpersonal Violence. 

Riggs, D.W. & Willing, I. (2013). “They’re all just little bits, aren’t they?”: South Australian lesbian mothers’ experiences of marginalisation in primary schoolsJournal of Australian Studies, 37(3)364-377.

Scholz, B. & Riggs, D.W. (2014). Sperm donors’ accounts of lesbian recipients: Heterosexualisation as a tool for warranting claims to children’s ‘best interests’. Psychology and Sexuality, 5(3), 247-257.

Short, E., Riggs, D. W., Perlesz, A., Brown, R., & Kane, G. (2007). Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) parented families: A literature review prepared for the Australian Psychological Society. Melbourne: Australian Psychological Society.

Taylor, N., Fraser, H., & Riggs, D.W. (Online First 2017). Domestic violence and companion animals in the context of LGBT people’s relationshipsSexualities.

Taylor, N., Riggs, D.W., Donovan, C., Signal, T., & Fraser, H. (Online First 2018). People of diverse genders and/or sexualities caring for and protecting animal companions in the context of domestic violenceViolence Against Women.

Other research publications (selected)

Australian

Dempsey, D. (2012). Gay male couples’ paternal involvement in lesbian-parented families. Journal of Family Studies, 18(2-3), 155-164.

Dempsey, D. (2012). More like a donor or more like a father? Gay men’s concepts of relatedness to children. Sexualities, 15(2), 156-174.

Dempsey, D. (2013). Same-sex parented families in Australia (CFCA Paper No. 18). Melbourne: Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Dempsey, D. (2013). Surrogacy, gay male couples and the significance of biogenetic paternity. New Genetics and Society, 32(1), 37-53.

Dempsey, D. (2008). ART eligibility for lesbians and single heterosexual women in Victoria: How medicalisation influenced a political, legal and policy debate. Health Sociology Review17(3), 267-279.

Dempsey, D., & Critchley, C. (2010). Comfort with use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) for family formation by same-sex and heterosexual couples: A survey of Australian social attitudes. Gay & Lesbian Issues and Psychology Review, 6(2), 90-102.

Murphy, D. A. (2013). The desire for parenthood: Gay men choosing to become parents through surrogacy. Journal of Family Issues, 34(8), 1104-1124.

Murphy, D.A. (2015). Gay men pursuing parenthood through surrogacy: Reconfiguring kinship. Sydney: UNSW Press.

Perlesz, A., Power, J., Brown, R., McNair, R., Schofield, M., Pitts, M., . . . Bickerdike, A. (2010). Organising work and home in same-sex parented families: Findings from the Work Love Play study. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 31(4), 374-391.

Power, J., Perlesz, A., Brown, R., Schofield, M., Pitts, M., McNair, R., & Bickerdike, A. (2010). Diversity, tradition and family: Australian same-sex attracted parents and their families. Gay & Lesbian Issues and Psychology Review, 6(2), 66-81.

Power, J.J., Perlesz, A., Schofield, M.J., Pitts, M.K., Brown, R., McNair, R., . . . Bickerdike, A. (2010). Understanding resilience in same-sex parented families: The Work, Love, Play study. BMC Public Health, 10.

Power, J., Perlesz, A., McNair, R., Schofield, M., Pitts, M., Brown, R., & Bickerdike, A. (2012). Gay and bisexual dads and diversity: Fathers in the Work, Love, Play study. Journal of Family Studies, 18(2-3), 143-154.

Power, J.J., Perlesz, A., Brown, R., Schofield, M.J., Pitts, M.K., McNair, R., & Bickerdike, A. (2012). Bisexual parents and family diversity: Findings from the Work, Love, Play study. Journal of Bisexuality, 12(4), 519-538.

Ripper, M. (2007). Fishing for taddies: Emotion work in lesbian women’s search for sperm donors in South Australia. Gay & Lesbian Issues and Psychology Review, 3(1), 16-24.

Ripper, M. (2008). Australian sperm donors: Public image and private motives of gay, bisexual and heterosexual donors. Health Sociology Review, 17(3), 313-325.

Ripper, M. (2009). Lesbian parenting through donor insemination: Implications for the hetero-normative family. Gay & Lesbian Issues and Psychology Review, 5(2), 81-95.

von Doussa, H., & Power, J. (2014). Work, Love, Play: Understanding resilience in same-sex parented families: Brief report. Melbourne: The Bouverie Centre, La Trobe University.

International

Almack, K. (2006). Seeking sperm: Accounts of lesbian couples’ reproductive decision-making and understandings of the needs of the child. International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family20(1), 1-22.

Averett, P., Nalavany, B., & Ryan, S. (2009). An evaluation of gay/lesbian and heterosexual adoption. Adoption Quarterly, 12(3-4), 129-151.

Baetens, P., Camus, M., & Devroey, P. (2003). Counselling lesbian couples: Requests for donor insemination on social grounds. Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 6(1), 75-83.

Bigner, J.J., & Jacobsen, R.B. (1989). The value of children to gay and heterosexual fathers. Journal of Homosexuality, 18(1-2), 163-172.

Black, B.P., & Fields, W.S. (2014). Contexts of reproductive loss in lesbian couples. MCN: The American journal of maternal child nursing, 39(3), 157-162.

Borneskog, C., Sydsjö, G., Lampic, C., Bladh, M., & Svanberg, A.S. (2013). Symptoms of anxiety and depression in lesbian couples treated with donated sperm: A descriptive study. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 120(7), 839-846.

Bos, H.H.M.W. (2010). Planned gay father families in kinship arrangements. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 31(4), 356-371.

Bos, H.M.W., Gartrell, N.K., van Balen, F., Peyser, H., & Sandfort, T.G.M. (2008). Children in planned lesbian families: A cross-cultural comparison between the USA and the Netherlands. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78(2), 211-219.

Bos, H.M.W., van Balen, F., & van den Boom, D.C. (2003). Planned lesbian families: Their desire and motivation to have children. Human Reproduction, 18(10), 2216-2224.

Bos, H.M.W., & van Balen, F. (2008). Children in planned lesbian families: Stigmatization, psychological adjustment and protective factors. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 10(3), 221-236.

Brodzinsky, D.M., Patterson, C.J., & Vaziri, M. (2002). Adoption agency perspectives on lesbian and gay prospective parents: A national study. Adoption Quarterly, 5(3), 5-23.

Brown, S., Smalling, S., Groza, V., & Ryan, S. (2009). The experiences of gay men and lesbians in becoming and being adoptive parents. Adoption Quarterly, 12(3-4), 229-246.

Clarke, V., & Kitzinger, C. (2004). Lesbian and gay parents on talk shows: Resistance or collusion in heterosexism? Qualitative Research in Psychology1(3), 195-217.

Craven, C., & Peel, E. (2014). Stories of grief and hope: Queer experiences of reproductive loss. In M.F. Gibson (Ed.), Queering maternity and motherhood: Narrative and theoretical perspectives on queer conception, birth and parenting (pp. 97-110). Toronto: Demeter Press.

Craven, C., & Peel, E. (2017). Queering reproductive loss: Exploring grief and memorialization. In E.R.M. Lind & A. Deveau (Eds.), Interrogating pregnancy loss: Feminist writings on abortion, miscarriage, and stillbirth (pp. 225-245). Bradford, Ontario: Demeter Press.

Current-Juretschko, L., & Bigner, J.J. (2005). An exploratory investigation of gay stepfathers’ perceptions of their role. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 1(4), 1-20.

Downing, J., Richardson, H., Kinkler, L., & Goldberg, A. (2009). Making the decision: Factors influencing gay men’s choice of an adoption path. Adoption Quarterly, 12(3), 247-271.

Epstein, R. (Ed.). (2009). Who’s your daddy? And other writings on queer parenting. Toronto, ON: Sumach Press.

Farr, R.H., & Patterson, C.J. (2009). Transracial adoption by lesbian, gay, and heterosexual couples: Who completes transracial adoptions and with what results? Adoption Quarterly, 12(3-4), 187-204.

Farr, R.H., & Patterson, C.J. (2013). Coparenting among lesbian, gay, and heterosexual couples: Associations with adopted children’s outcomes. Child Development, 84(4), 1226-1240.

Gabb, J. (2004). “I could eat my baby to bits”; passion and desire in lesbian mother-children love. Gender, Place & Culture, 11(3), 399-415.

Gabb, J. (2005). Lesbian m/otherhood: Strategies of familial-linguistic management in lesbian parent families. Sociology, 39(4), 585-603.

Gabb, J. (2005). Locating lesbian parent families: Everyday negotiations of lesbian motherhood in Britain. Gender, Place & Culture, 12(4), 419-432.

Gabb, J. (2018). Unsettling lesbian motherhood: Critical reflections over a generation (1990-2015). Sexualities, 21(7), 1002-1020.

Gartrell, N., Hamilton, J., Banks, A., Mosbacher, D., Reed, N., Sparks, C.H., & Bishop, H. (1996). The National Lesbian Family Study; interviews with prospective mothers. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 66(2), 272-281.

Gartrell, N., Rodas, C., Deck, A., Peyser, H., & Banks, A. (2006). The USA National Lesbian Family Study: Interviews with mothers of 10-year-olds. Feminism & Psychology, 16(2), 175-192.

Goldberg, A.E. (2012). Gay dads: Transitions to adoptive fatherhood. New York and London: New York University Press.

Goldberg, A.E., & Allen, K.R. (Eds.). (2013). LGBT-parent families: Innovations in research and implications for practice. New York: Springer.

Goldberg, A.E., Downing, J.B., & Moyer, A.M. (2012). Why parenthood, and why now? Gay men’s motivations for pursuing parenthood. Family Relations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 61(1), 157-174.

Goldberg, A.E., Downing, J.B., & Richardson, H.B. (2009). The transition from infertility to adoption: Perceptions of lesbian and heterosexual couples. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 26(6-7), 938-963.

Goldberg, A.E., Downing, J.B., & Sauck, C.C. (2008). Choices, challenges, and tensions: Perspectives of lesbian prospective adoptive parents. Adoption Quarterly, 10(2), 33-64.

Goldberg, A.E., Kinkler, L.A., & Hines, D.A. (2011). Perception and internalization of adoption stigma among gay, lesbian, and heterosexual adoptive parents. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 7(1-2), 132-154.

Goldberg, A.E., Moyer, A.M., Kinkler, L.A., & Richardson, H.B. (2012). “When you’re sitting on the fence, hope’s the hardest part”: Challenges and experiences of heterosexual and same-sex couples adopting through the child welfare system. Adoption Quarterly, 15(4), 288-315.

Goldberg, A.E., & Smith, J.Z. (2013). Predictors of psychological adjustment in early placed adopted children with lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parents. Journal of Family Psychology, 27(3), 431-442.

Hicks, S. (2005). Lesbian and gay foster care and adoption: A brief UK history. Adoption & Fostering, 29(3), 42-56.

Hicks, S. (2005). Queer genealogies: Tales of conformity and rebellion amongst lesbian and gay foster carers and adopters. Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice, 4(3), 293-308.

Hicks, S. (2006). Genealogy’s desire: Practices of kinship amongst lesbian and gay foster-carers and adopters. British Journal of Social Work, 36(5), 761-776.

Hicks, S. (2006). Maternal men–perverts and deviants? Making sense of gay men as foster carers and adopters. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 2(1), 93-114.

Ioverno, S., Carone, N., Lingiardi, V., Nardelli, N., Pagone, P., Pistella, J., Salvati, M., Simonelli, A., & Baiocco, R. (2018). Assessing prejudice toward two-father parenting and two-mother parenting: The beliefs on same-sex parenting scale. The Journal of Sex Research55(4-5), 654-665.

Lavner, J.A., Waterman, J., & Peplau, L.A. (2012). Can gay and lesbian parents promote healthy development in high-risk children adopted from foster care? American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 82(4), 465-472.

Nordqvist, P. (2011). Choreographies of sperm donations: Dilemmas of intimacy in lesbian couple donor conception. Social Science & Medicine, 73(11), 1661-1668.

Nordqvist, P. (2012). Origins and originators: Lesbian couples negotiating parental identities and sperm donor conception. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 14(3), 297-311.

Patrick, D. (2006). The story of a gay foster parent. Child Welfare: Journal of Policy, Practice, and Program, 85(2), 123-132.

Peel, E. (2010). Pregnancy loss in lesbian and bisexual women: An online survey of experiences. Human Reproduction, 25(3), 721-727.

Peel, E., & Cain, R. (2012). “Silent” miscarriage and deafening heteronormativity: A British experiential and critical feminist account. In S. Earle, C. Komaromy & L.L. Layne (Eds.), Understanding reproductive loss: Perspectives on life, death and fertility (pp. 79-92). Farnham: Ashgate.

Riskind, R.G., & Patterson, C.J. (2010). Parenting intentions and desires among childless lesbian, gay, and heterosexual individuals. Journal of Family Psychology, 24(1), 78-81.

Ross, L.E., Epstein, R., Anderson, S., & Eady, A. (2009). Policy, practice, and personal narratives: Experiences of LGBTQ people with adoption in Ontario, Canada. Adoption Quarterly, 12(3-4), 272-293.

Siegenthaler, A.L., & Bigner, J.J. (2000). The value of children to lesbian and non-lesbian mothers. Journal of Homosexuality, 39(2), 73-91.

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