Social Stigma and the Situation of Young People in Lesbian and Gay Stepfamilies

Abstract

This article presents the results of a qualitative study examining how social stigmatization made the lives of young people in gay and lesbian stepfamilies more complex. The study focused primarily on the young people's viewpoint, which has until now rarely been taken into consideration in studies of gay and lesbian families. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with adolescents and young adults from 15 to 29 years old. The results showed that these young people experienced social stigmatization because of the family they lived in, which in turn had repercussions on their personal, family, and interpersonal lives.

KEYWORDS:

• gay/lesbian stepfamily
• young with homosexual parents
• stepfamily
• social stigma

This research project was made possible through the financial support of the Fonds québécois de recherche sur la société et al culture and the centre jeunesse de Québec – Institut Universitaire.

Notes

1. The expression “heterosexual stepfamily” is used to distinguish these family structures from those headed by a homosexual parent.

2. Consequently, and given the limited number of studies looking specifically at gay and lesbian stepfamilies, the present literature review is not limited to studies of this particular subset of families, but rather includes studies of families with at least one homosexual parent. Information concerning the family structure of respondents are noted when they are known.