| Abstrakt: |
Despite the ideological, legal, and material barriers to parenthood, lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people are increasingly having children after coming out, in what has been termed the "gay-by boom." The purpose of this paper is to explore how LGB people's expectations about whether they would have children are disrupted (or left intact) by coming out. Following a grounded theory approach, this paper presents in-depth interview data from 25 lesbian, bisexual, and gay parents who had at least one child within the past five years in the context of a same-sex relationship. This paper argues that the initial processes of coming out affected thoughts on becoming parents in a variety of ways, and that these experiences tended to vary by age and gender. A four-part typology emerged from the data that illuminates the intersections of how one's childhood and early adult memories of wanting or expecting to have children are later amended (or not) by the process of coming out (to oneself and others). The effects of coming out on parenting expectations fell into four categories: "That was disappointing," "I'm very headstrong," "It made it possible," and "Nothing to do with the kids." Implications for future research are addressed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
