Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Baumle, Amanda K., author.

Title Legalizing LGBT families : how the law shapes parenthood / Amanda K. Baumle and D'Lane R. Compton
Published New York : New York University Press, [2015]
©2015

Copies

Description 1 online resource (297 pages)
Contents Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- The state of the law for LGBT parents -- Routes to parenthood -- Locating legality -- Parenting before the law -- Parenting with the law -- Parenting against the law -- Conclusion: LGBT parents constructing legality -- Appendix: Methodology -- Notes -- References -- Index -- About the authors
Summary "The decision to have a child is seldom a simple one, often fraught with complexities regarding emotional readiness, finances, marital status, and compatibility with life and career goals. Rarely, though, do individuals consider the role of the law in facilitating or inhibiting their ability to have a child or to parent. For LGBT individuals, however, parenting is saturated with legality -- including the initial decision of whether to have a child, how to have a child, whether one's relationship with their child will be recognized, and everyday acts of parenting like completing forms or picking up children from school. Through in-depth interviews with 137 LGBT parents, Amanda K. Baumle and D'Lane R. Compton examine the role of the law in the lives of LGBT parents and how individuals use the law when making decisions about family formation or parenting. Baumle and Compton explore the ways in which LGBT parents participate in the process of constructing legality through accepting, modifying, or rejecting legal meanings about their families. Few groups encounter as much variation in access to everyday legal rights pertaining to the family as do LGBT parents. This complexity and variation in legal environments provides a rather unique opportunity to examine the manner in which legal context affects the ways in which individuals come to understand the meaning and utility of the law for their lives. The authors conclude that legality is constructed through a complex interplay of legal context, social networks, individual characteristics, and familial desires. Ultimately, the stories of LGBT parents in this book reflect a rich and varied relationship between the law, the state, and the private family goals of individuals"--Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Same-sex marriage -- United States
Same-sex marriage -- Law and legislation -- United States
Children of gay parents -- United States
Gay parents -- United States
Sexual minorities' families -- United States
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Cultural Policy.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture.
Children of gay parents
Gay parents
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage -- Law and legislation
Sexual minorities' families
Same-sex marriage.
Gay parents.
Parental rights.
LGBTQ+ people
LGBTQ+ families
United States
Form Electronic book
Author Compton, D'Lane R. (D'Lane Rebecca), 1977- author.
LC no. 2015024531
ISBN 9781479879656
1479879657