Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Parented Families

Prepared for the Australian Psychological Society by Elizabeth Short, Damien W. Riggs, Amaryll Perlesz, Rhonda Brown & Graeme Kane

Overview

This review provides an overview and summary of the main bodies of research about parenting by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)1 people, as well as relevant information about the wider family studies field within which this research is situated, and background information on the Australian context. This review will assist psychologists to provide effective and appropriate services to people in such families. The review will also assist psychologists in contributing, where appropriate, to public debates in relation to legal and public policy reform of the type that has occurred extensively over the last five years in Australia (for example, about which family relationships should be recognised in law, and who should be able to access fertility services or adopt children), and which can be expected to continue into the future. Given the importance of psychologists promoting accurate understandings of scientific research, a primary focus of this review is the role that psychological research can play in such debates, and the contribution of psychologists to promoting well-being for children, parents, families
and the general community.

As detailed in this review, the family studies literature indicates that it is family processes (such as the quality of parenting and relationships within the family) that contribute to determining children's well-being and 'outcomes', rather than family structures, per se, such as the number, gender, sexuality and co-habitation status of parents. The research indicates that parenting practices and children's outcomes in families parented by lesbian and gay parents are likely to be at least as favourable as those in families of heterosexual parents, despite the reality that considerable legal discrimination and inequity remain significant challenges for these families. The Australian Psychological Society (APS) is committed to contributing the knowledge of psychology in the public interest, and to fostering a social environment in which all children and their families experience support, recognition, and are valued, and in which discrimination and prejudice have no place.

[Link: Original Document]