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“Gay families” is a term which has two distinct meanings.
1. The ‘family’ of friends you acquire during your life.
2. Your human right to be the parent of children and raise your own family, regardless of your sexuality.
This article is about the second of those meanings, and is based on the situation in the United Kingdom. The situation in other countries can be very different.
Homosexual and unmarried couples were granted adoption rights by The House of Lords on 5 November 2002.
From April 2009, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act granted lesbian couples equal rights as parents.
From 6 April 2010, the same Act grants two gay men the legal right to be named as the parents of surrogate children.
From 2012, the same Act has given same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples in IVF treatment. Gay couples or single women now need only show they can provide “supportive parenting”. Official figures show the number of lesbian couples undergoing IVF rose from 178 in 2007 to 417 in 2010. Source
There is now a much wider diversity in family composition than before; some gay parents may have children from previous heterosexual partnerships, some may adopt and others may be embarking on co-parenting relationships with friends to ensure that their children have role models of both sexes. You can no longer generalise about gay families; they are all unique.
There is still opposition to gay men and lesbians being parents and raising children. All the evidence disproves their objections. Sexuality is not an influencing factor in what makes a good parent. It is their skills as parents which are important and anyone can have those skills regardless of their sexuality.
Another criticism Gay Activist often hears is that it is harmful in some way for the children to grow up in anything other than a normal family relationship of a male father and a female mother. There is no evidence whatever to support that view. There is no significant developmental differences between the children of gay families and those from heterosexual families.
While gays who adopt children do so reasonably successfully, other gay parents are still finding life full of problems, especially those who want to create their own families.
Barrie Barlow and Tony Drewitt were the first gay men in the world to be named as joint parents of test tube babies.
The European Parliament granted further rights to lesbian and gay Europeans which simplify how they and their families can move and live within the EU. It only applies to same sex couples whose relationships have been officially registered in both their home country and the country to which they move. About five million EU citizens who are gay and lesbian will benefit from these family movement rights.
Gay men and lesbians and their children are all entitled to all the civil rights granted by their home country, the European Council, and the UN Declaration of Human Rights. Wherever they live, and however their family came to be.
Gay men in England, Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland are allowed to adopt.
Charities which did not permit children to be placed with gay couples have been prosecuted.
Other resources
New Family Social is the only organisation working for LGBT adopters, foster carers and their children throughout the UK.
LGBT Adoption and Fostering Week
Text updated and links checked 22 May 2012
SP
