Gay and Lesbian Family; Recognize as a Reconstituted Family

Gay and Lesbian Family; Recognize as a Reconstituted Family

What is Reconstituted family? Reconstituted family or also known as blended family is the sociological term for the joining of two adults through marriage, cohabitation or civil partnership, who have children from previous relationships. It is also a biological term for a family in which has two moms and no dads. It has been said that a reconstituted family is a family in which the parents are related in some way shape or form. Gay and Lesbian family are among several kinds of family that is now considered as a reconstituted family. According to Cohler and Levy (2000), the most common route into parenthood among gay men and lesbians is represented by the reconstituted family, that is, the same-gender couple and children from one or both partners' previous heterosexual marriages (p. 219). This essay is going to talk about lesbian and gay as a parent to their children and stigmatization of lesbian and gay family in the Canadian society.

The Issue of gay and lesbian parenting is one that is both highly currents, in terms of media interest and political controversy and historic, in that individuals with nonheterosexual attractions, identities, and behaviors have always been parents (Goldberg, 2010, p. 3). Increased media attention to gay parenting is in part a response to the increased visibility of gay parents in society, which is in turn a function of actual increases in the number of lesbian and gay parents, particularly those who become parents in the context of same-sex committed relationships (Goldberg, 2010, p.3). A significant literature has begun to emerge, particularly in the past several decades, on the intimate partner relationships of lesbians and gay men. According to American Psychiatric Association's 2008 research on homosexuality and same-sex relationships, it must be contextualized in terms of the significant clinical, social, and political debate that preceded and followed the removal in 1973 of the term Homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (as cited in Goldberg, 2010, p.15). This removal meant that homosexuality was no considered as a mental illness by clinical diagnostic standards (Goldberg, 2010, p. 15).

Gay and lesbian parenting, a number of studies suggest that those lesbian mothers' and gay fathers' maybe superior to those of matched heterosexual couples. For instance, Flaks, Fischer, Masterpasqua and Joseph 1995's study that lesbian couples' parenting awareness skills were stronger than those of heterosexual couples (as cited in Patterson, 2011, para. 5). This was attributed to grater parenting awareness among lesbian nonbiological mothers than among heterosexual fathers. Gay and lesbian parenting is a productive research field with many important new developments in content and methodology over the last decade. The family arrangement of gay fathers and lesbian mothers are many and varied. Diversity arises not only in how living a lesbian and gay identity influences family living arrangement but also as this intersects with cultural, socioeconomic status, and religious identities (Tasken & Bigner, 2007, p. 10). According to Tasker and Bigner (2007) the number of children with gay and lesbian parent has increased in recent years, children have been born to or adopted. These families have variously been called families of the lesbian baby boom, planned lesbian mother, and planned gay father families (p. 11).

One important aspect of gay and lesbian parenting focuses on how family members disclose their identity as part of the gay father or lesbian mother family