• Qualitative Inquiry Into Social Support Networks of Black Lesbian Families
  Presented by: Valerie Quinn Glass, April Few-Demo

• How Lesbian Mothers View Their Children's Sexual Orientation Development
  Presented by: Katherine A. Kuvalanka, Rachael Cohen, Rachel Radina, Katie Barrow, Ellen Jackson

• LGB Families in the Context of Poverty
  Presented by: Ramona Faith Oswald, Vanja Lazarevic, Elizabeth Grace Holman

• Transgender/Gender-Variant Youth and Their Families: The Pilot Phase
  Presented by: Judith L. Weiner, Katherine A. Kuvalanka

Abstracts

Qualitative Inquiry Into Social Support Networks of Black Lesbian Families

Presented by: Valerie Quinn Glass, April Few-Demo

A qualitative study was conducted with 22 Black lesbian individuals to analyze how the ways in which they access social support networks and utilize these resources for legitimizing their committed couple relationships and affirming Black lesbian family identities.  Black lesbian participants found that they were not isolated as individuals or as mothers, but experienced that their identity as a lesbian couple was not validated by families-of-origin, local lesbian communities, local churches, and friends. Black feminism, postmodern feminism, and symbolic interactionism were used to analyze and interpret findings. Implications for working with Black lesbian families in clinical settings are identified.

How Lesbian Mothers View their Children's Sexual Orientation Development

Presented by: Katherine A. Kuvalanka, Rachael Cohen, Rachel Radina, Katie Barrow, Ellen Jackson

Qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 lesbian mothers to explore participants' assessment of their children's sexual orientations, and how they would feel about their children identifying with particular sexual orientation identities. Most participants' reported that their children were heterosexual. Other mothers felt that their children's sexual orientations were currently ""unknown,"" while some reported that their children had ""tried on"" various sexual orientation identities. All participants stated they would be supportive of their children's eventual sexual orientation identities; however, some mothers revealed preferences and concerns in this regard. Findings have implications for practitioners, as well as for future research.

LGB families in the context of poverty

Presented by: Ramona Faith Oswald, Vanja Lazarevic, Elizabeth Grace Holman

Research on poverty has almost never examined the impact of poverty on the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGB) families. In fact, there is only one peer reviewed study of poverty in this population (Prokos & Keene, 2010). Our  paper will build upon this emerging literature by providing an analysis of how poverty impacts the structure and relationship quality of LGBT families using survey data from a nonmetropolitan Midwestern sample. We utilize a feminist intersectional approach (de Reus, Few, Blume, 2005) that examines the interplay between gender and economic inequalities.

Transgender/Gender-Variant Youth and their Families: The Pilot Phase

Presented by: Judith L. Weiner, Katherine A. Kuvalanka

Qualitative interviews were conducted with five mothers of transgender/gender-variant youth (ages 6-11 years old) to assess the influence of familial and societal accepting and rejecting behaviors on their children's well-being. Three themes emerged from the data. First, mother's discussed their children's ‘metamorphosis' (e.g., s/he seemed more her/himself). Second, participants reflected on the public-to-private transition (i.e., within/outside the home). Lastly, participants discussed how their communities reacted to their children's transition. Findings have implications for practitioners, and future research.