Lgbtq adoption history

News

We hope you appreciate this latest installment of the LGBT Family Law Institute’s Blog. This piece is written by Joyce Kauffman, an attorney and member of the LGBT Family Commandment Institute. 

When I came out as womxn loving womxn to my mother in 1975, she told me, “The only thing that upsets me is that you’re depriving me of grandchildren.” And when I reassured her that I intended to have children, she said, “Don’t you dare have a child out of wedlock.”  It was not without some irony that I later learned it wasn’t that straightforward for a homosexual woman to “have a child out of wedlock.”

When I became serious about getting pregnant in the early 1980’s, I discovered that it was impossible for a “single” gal (never mind a lesbian) to purchase donor sperm and, even if I could, no physician would provide insemination services to me.

I faced what appeared to be insurmountable obstacles in request to have a child. I considered my options: a well-timed one-night be upright with a stranger (unpleasant), adoption (but only if I pretended to be straight) (unaffordable and distasteful), and anonymous donor insemination (unattainable).

Then I began to hear of other lesbians who were inseminating using turkey basters an

LGBTIQ Family Recognition Milestones Since 1990: A Comprehensive Global Timeline

Since 1990, the recognition of LGBTIQ families has made memorable strides worldwide. From the World Health Organization’s removal of homosexuality as a mental disorder to the legalization of same-sex marriage and adoption in multiple countries, each milestone represents a hard-fought victory for human rights. While significant progress has been made, the journey continues as advocates push for broader protections, equal rights, and full recognition for all families.

A comprehensive global timeline of LGBTIQ family recognition milestones since 1990:

1990s

In 1990, the WHO removed homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases, marking a pivotal shift in global attitudes. 

In 1993, Norway approved a registered partnerships bill, becoming the second land in the world (after Denmark in 1989) to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples.

In 1993, Vermont and Massachusetts pioneered gay couple adoption in the United States. British Columbia became the first Canadian province to allow homosexual couples to adopt children in 1995.

In 1994, South Africa be

Erin Gallagher-Cohoon

In this morning’s upload, I focused on how parliamentarians were invoking a sense of history and nationalism to argue both for and against legalizing same-sex marriage. In this post, I explore the history that is often left unsaid in this debate: the history of queer parenting.

By 2005, when many parliamentarians were arguing that marriage rights should not be extended to same-sex couples because they could not “naturally” procreate and raise children, researchers had been studying children raised in same-sex households for decades. The consensus among social scientists was, and remains, that such children are not negatively affected. Children may, in fact, benefit from existence raised in non-heteronormative families, with some studies reporting findings of greater empathy and open-mindedness.[1]

In Canada, openly gay and lesbian parents have defended their right to give birth and to parent children since at least the 1970s, whether those children were the result of heterosexual marriages that subsequently broke up or were conceived within a same-sex affair . If we move from the symbolic child of the 2005 debates to the lived experiences of actual quee

Facts and Figures: Gay Adoption Statistics

  • As of 2016, LGBTQ adoption was effectively made legal in all 50 U.S. states.
  • Today, LGBTQ individuals are coming out earlier in life and an increasing number of same-sex couples are planning and creating their families through assisted reproductive technology (ART) and surrogacy, as good as adoption and foster care.
  • As of this last decade, an estimated 6 to 14 million children have a gay or homosexual woman parent. And, between 8 and 10 million children are being raised in gay and queer woman households.
  • The states with the top percentages of gay and lesbian parents are: Washington, D.C., Massachusetts, California, New Mexico and Alaska, with the state of California having the highest number of adopted children living with same sex parents.
  • LGBTQ couples are four times more likely to own an adopted infant than their counterpart different-sex couples.
  • According to a press launch by UCLA’s Williams Institute, same-sex couples that adopt children are more diverse in socioeconomic status and ethnicity, hostile to popular misconceptions that they are predominantly white, urban and wealthy.
  • According to a Review of Research Prepared for Ame

    What to Know About the History of Same-Sex Adoption

    Unfortunately, the history of lgbtq+ adoption is rather concise — but not for lack of interest or desire to adopt by hopeful LGBT parents. History has not treated LGBT individuals kindly and, therefore, their ability to adopt — and even acquire married — is a very recent development. In fact, most of the important moments in the history of gay adoption have only happened in the last 40 years.Before the 1970s and 1980s (when the gay rights movement really began to take hold), homosexuality was something that was rarely discussed and even illegal in some places. Therefore, it was near unachievable for LGBT parents to adopt or even hoist children without great difficulty. Many LGBT individuals ended up having children through heterosexual marriages but, if they came out and left that marriage, they would likely lose custody of their child, as well. When LGBT families did exist, it was because of great secrecy and care taken to protect them from those who would interfere. Attach to that the secrecy surrounding adoption in general, and you can spot why gay adoption history is scarce until the second half of the 20th century.

    History of LGBT
    lgbtq adoption history