| HOT
TOPICS
LGBT individuals and couples become parents in a myriad
of ways such as adoption, foster parenting, donor insemination,
surrogacy arrangements, and having children during previous
heterosexual relationships. Discrimination based on sexual
orientation and gender identity persists, and our families
don’t necessarily fit into the neat categories within
family law and adoption law and policy. Therefore, LGBT
parents and prospective parents need to learn the legal
status of their parent-child relationships and the legal
protections available in their state to protect their families.
In this
section you will find basic overviews of the rights of lesbian
and gay parents to custody and visitation with their children
after a heterosexual divorce, the parental rights of gay
and lesbian parents who create families with their same-sex
partners, the rights of transgender parents, and laws and
policies regarding adoption and fostering by LGBT people.
You
will also find information about the social science research
on children raised by gay parents, the child welfare community’s
opposition to restrictions on parenting by gay people, and
other materials that are useful to advocate against discriminatory
treatment of lesbian and gay parents.
|
