LGBTQ individuals can become parents in a number of ways, including adoption, foster parenting, donor insemination, surrogacy, and from previous heterosexual relationships. These parents can often face prejudice and discrimination because of their sexual orientation, leading to barriers and negative consequences when it comes to adoption, custody, and more.
Statements from a wide variety of professional organizations, including the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychological Association, have made it clear that parents’ sexual orientation does not impact their ability to raise children. The APA has compiled a detailed report of research in this area discrediting negative stereotypical ideas about LGBTQ parents, including the notion of a deficit in LGBTQ parents or their children compared to heterosexual parents or their children. In fact, some studies they reviewed even suggests superior parenting skills among LGBTQ parents including parenting-awareness, favorable parent-child interactions, and positive disciplinary techniques.
- To learn more about current legal issues affecting LGBTQ families and how to advocate on their behalf, check out the ACLU LGBTQ parenting page.
- The LGBT Center of Raleigh offers a number of programs, events, and resources for queer and trans families, which can be found on their website.
- Family Equality’s mission is to “advance legal and lived equality for LGBTQ families” and their website hosts a wide variety of resources for current LGBTQ families as well as LGBTQ individuals on their family formation journey. Check out their resource library here.