Voices from the heart: The developmental impact of a mother's lesbianism on her adolescent children

Abstract

This article is based upon a study exploring the impact of a divorced mother's lesbian orientation on her children, as they experience adolescence within a homophobic culture. Sexual identity issues and friendships are highlighted. Findings indicate profound loyalty and protectiveness toward the mother, openness to diversity, and sensitivity to the effects of prejudice. Subjects reported strong needs for peer affiliation and perceived secrecy regarding mother's lesbianism as necessary for relationship maintenance. Other concerns, abating over time, were unrealized fears of male devaluation and homosexuality. Pervasive sadness about the parental breakup remained andwishes for family reunification were relinquished when mother “came out.”

Notes

Ann O'Connell, M.Ed., M.S.W., is a co‐founder of Journeywomen, a feminist psychotherapy collective in Somerville, Massachusetts. This article is based on research conducted for her 1990 master's thesis at the Smith College School for Social Work.