Class is a key issue for lesbian and gay parents
Dr Yvette Taylor, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, has carried out over 60 in-depth interviews across the UK and discovered that although it may now be easier for lesbian and gay parents to be acknowledged as a family unit, this is far from an automatic right.
“Deeply inscribed class ideas and practices still affect how lesbian and gay parents create a ‘respectable’ and legitimate route into parenting,” she said: “The concept of what makes a family may be more fluid today, but it is still clearly defined by society’s values and is governed by a yard stick of what is ‘normal’ and ‘proper’.”
In her book, Lesbian and Gay Parents: Securing Social and Educational Capitals, which is being published in the UK by Palgrave Macmillan on 7 August 2009, Dr Taylor suggests that many middle-class parents feel compelled to show they are more responsible and thoughtful than their heterosexual or working class counterparts when it comes to parenting.
published on: 3rd August 2009