Familiar diversity: a study about same-sex parenting homes

Abstract

This paper accounts for the result of the research “The social construction of the family in homes with same-sex parents”, conducted in 2012-2013, which delves into the social representation of the concept of family in families with same-sex parents, describing their inner dynamics. It resorts to quantitative and qualitative procedures, through the implementation of a self-administered questionnaire to non-heterosexual people, and interviews with gay and lesbian people that share parenting functions. Some of its results are: the need to problematize the categories of gay family, lesbian family, heterosexual or homosexual family; the presence of criteria establishing equity in the choice of last name that the children will have, in the distribution of housework and in the administration of economic resources; the greater flexibility in the definition of family and the presence of obstacles and facilitators for the consolidation and visibility of households with same-sex parents in a similar and higher proportion.