glbtq: an encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender & queer culture
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Special Features Index  

 
Spotlight Marriage and Family
 
While glbtq people have formed unions, partnerships, de facto marriages, and many kinds of families for generations, one of the greatest shifts in the history of the family began in the 1990s when queer families began to insist more vocally that they receive the same societal benefits as traditional families.
 
 
  Adolescents depend on their families economically and socially. A homosexual youth's positive or negative identity is largely determined by the parent-child relationships the youth experiences during adolescence.  
 
 
  Adoption is an important way in which lesbian and gay couples create families, though there are frequently social and legal barriers to overcome.  
 
 
  Artificial Insemination is often used by lesbians and heterosexual single women who wish to conceive without sexual contact with males and is frequently the method of choice when gay men create families through surrogacy or co-parenting.  
 
 
  Boston MarriagesBoston Marriages--romantic unions between women that were usually monogamous but not necessarily sexual--flourished in the late nineteenth century between women who tended to be college-educated, feminist, financially independent, and career-minded.  
 
 
  glbtq parentsChildren of glbtq Parents have been the subjects of more than three decades of research that has shown that children of glbtq parents are no different from peers reared in heterosexual families.  
 
 
  Civil Union, which confers all the rights, benefits, and responsibilities of marriage on same-sex couples, was established in Vermont in 2000. Same-sex marriage superseded civil unions there in 2009, but other states continue to permit civil unions while prohibiting same-sex marriage, an arrangement many activists describe as "separate but equal."  
 
 
  Same-sex Commitment Ceremonies are similar to heterosexual weddings. They are legally recognized in some countries, but generally not in the United States.  
 
 
  Custody Litigation between gay and lesbian parents has faced almost unremitting hostility in the courts of some states while others have declared that glbtq parents have the same rights and responsibilities as other parents.  
 
 
  Domestic Partnership is the generic term for a variety of forms of legal and institutional recognition of same-sex couples that fall short of same-sex marriage.  
 
 
  Many glbtq people reject a fixed definition of Family imposed by society, while others insist their intimate relationships are the same as traditional marriages.  
 
 
  The Gay Rights Movement in the U. S. developed after World War II and has grown in size, diversity, and visibility since the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Since its inception, the movement has addressed many different issues important to glbtq communities. It's recent focus on marriage rights emerged during the 1990s and continues to drive much contemporary political activism.  
 
 
  Sharon Kowalski and Karen ThompsonThe plight of Sharon Kowalski (b. 1947) and Karen Thompson (b. 1956) brought into sharp focus an issue that many able-bodied gay men and lesbians had never considered: the importance of giving legal status to their chosen families.  
 
 
  New RightNew Right groups, along with the Roman Catholic hierarchy, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), and Evangelical Christians, are the most vocal and visible opponents of same-sex marriage.  
 
 
  While Parenting has risen in importance in glbtq communities as queer families have become more visible, glbtq people have been parents throughout history.  
 
 
  PFLAGParents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), an American organization of some 460 affiliated chapters and 80,000 members, works to support glbtq people and their loved ones.  
 
 
  Same-Sex MarriageSame-Sex Marriage has been a goal of glbtq activists and communities since the dawn of the modern lesbian and gay civil rights movement. Relative to some other nations, progress toward same-sex marriage has been slow in the United States.  
 
 
  Sexual Citizenship is a concept that draws attention to all kinds of social exclusions that various sexual communities experience including the denial of marriage rights.  
 
 
 

 
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