Same-Sex Parented Families' Negotiation of Minority Social Identity in South Africa

ABSTRACT

In the past two decades, South Africa has made tremendous advancement in gay and lesbian rights. Despite this progress, many reports suggest that social attitudes have not kept up with legal progress, and gay and lesbian individuals in South Africa live in a society that is intolerant, oppressive, and even violent toward nonheterosexual citizens. The purpose of the current study was to explore same-sex parented families' interpretations of social attitudes toward gay/lesbian sexual orientation and the ways in which they negotiate their minority social identity status in their daily lives. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with 21 parents and 12 children in South Africa's Gauteng and Western Cape provinces. Despite many reports of social nonacceptance of gay/lesbian sexual orientation, participants largely reported positive perceptions of South African attitudes toward gay/lesbian families. Importantly, as most participants were White and middle-class, many acknowledged that non-White, non-middle-class sexual minorities likely do not share in these positive experiences. Participants reported negotiating social attitudes through ignoring, creating safe spaces, and altering behavior while in public. These strategies are discussed through the lens of social identity theory.

KEYWORDS:

• Same-sex parents
• social attitudes
• social identity theory
• South Africa

Notes

¹ The authors use the term homosexuality here to reflect the terminology used in the original survey. Refer to the American Psychological Association's guidelines for avoiding heterosexual-biased language (found at http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/language.aspx) for a discussion on preferred terminology.