Same Sex Parenting

The American dream of having a family is shared by heterosexual and homosexual couples alike.

This dream is becoming more feasible for same-sex parents as society's idea of family shifts and new technologies emerge.

A new study showed that lesbian mothers often use symbols or rituals to reinforce the idea of family in a time when the typical composition has changed. Many organizations offer resources for and information about same-sex families.

Same-sex parents often choose a donor with physical traits echoing their own. Many hyphenate their last names or choose to adopt the same name to represent themselves as a unit.Check out this graph representing percentages of people who want to have children.

They depend on symbols to reinforce familial ties and practice rituals to reinforce that bond. Not only do surnames and family traditions strengthen the family's identity internally, they establish the family in society.

We interviewed a sociologist, who studies lesbian identity; and a lesbian mother, who works as a gay rights activist at the University of Florida for this project.

Our reporting team includes Maria Fernanda Castro, Caitlin Healy and Alyssa LaRenzie.

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