The Coming-Out Process of Gay Grandfathers: Perceptions of Their Adult Children's Influence

Abstract

The coming-out process of adolescent and adult gay and lesbian individuals has been examined; however, individuals in late adulthood who come out to family members have been largely overlooked. Specifically, the coming-out process of grandparents to their grandchildren has received scant attention. Guided by the life-course perspective, a qualitative study was conducted to examine the coming-out experiences of gay grandfathers to their grandchildren. Face-to-face, one-time, semi-structured interviews lasting 35 to 90 minutes with 11 grandfathers were conducted to examine their coming-out experiences to grandchildren. Grandfathers reported that their adult children played a profound role in their coming-out process to grandchildren. Adult children were viewed as being a positive force during this process, and grandfathers reported that coming out to their grandchildren was easier than coming out to their own children. Future research would benefit from understanding the grandparent-grandchild relationship from the perspectives of adult children and grandchildren.

KEYWORDS:

• GLBT family studies
• gay grandfather
• grandchildren
• qualitative methods
• coming-out experiences

The research was funded by the Scholorship Advancement Award administered by the College of Applied Human Sciences at Colorado State University and from funds provided by the Harris College VIA Grant at Texas Christian University. A previous version of this paper was presented of the 59th Annual Conference of the Gerontological/Society of America.