Forms of LGBT Parenting
LGBT people can become parents through various means including current or former relationships, coparenting, adoption, foster care, donor insemination, and surrogacy. A gay man or lesbian may have children within an opposite-sex relationship, such as a mixed-orientation marriage, for various reasons.
Some children do not know they have an LGBT parent; coming out issues vary and some parents may never reveal to their children that they identify as LGBT.
Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are parents. In the 2000 U.S. Census, for example, 33 percent of female same-sex couple households and 22 percent of male same-sex couple households reported at least one child under the age of 18 living in the home. As of 2005, an estimated 270,313 children in the United States live in households headed by same-sex couples.
Read more about this topic: LGBT Parenting
Famous quotes containing the words forms of, forms and/or parenting:
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—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Many people operate under the assumption that since parenting is a natural adult function, we should instinctively know how to do it—and do it well. The truth is, effective parenting requires study and practice like any other skilled profession. Who would even consider turning an untrained surgeon loose in an operating room? Yet we “operate” on our children every day.”
—Louise Hart (20th century)