Date: Mon, 13 Feb 1995 20:27:05 -0500 From: DENLEWIS@delphi.com To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: Article on Children in Gay Households Girls have an easier time dealing with a parent's homosexuality than boys, according to an article on children growing up in households headed by gay men or lesbians. The article, by Carole Rafferty, was distributed by the Knight-Tribune News Service. A version of it ran in Monday's edition of The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville. Rafferty writes that sons have a harder time dealing with a parent's homosexuality than daughters. "As the first wave of male children of openly gay parents turn into adolescents, they may well turn out to be their parents' harshest critics," according to Rafferty. Stefan Lynch, a 23-year-old organizer with San Francisco-based COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere), was one of the people interviewed by Rafferty. "Boys seem much more caught up around the sex part of their parent's sexuality," said Lynch. "Children of gay and lesbian parents have to come out just like their parents." Rafferty says Lynch describes himself as erotically heterosexual, but culturally gay. Lynda Turkus, a mother who came out 7 years ago after many years of marriage, observed that "'Faggot' is the worst thing that boys can call each other." Rafferty notes that the gay and lesbian community is in the midst of its own "mini baby boom." She cites a recent study by the American Bar Association, which estimates that between 6 million and 10 million children nationally -- many of them pre-schoolers -- are living in households headed by gay men or lesbians. Rafferty also points out that many gay parents discover that lessons against gender typecasting, sexism and homophobia carry little weight with an adolescent who is confronted by peer pressure. "Several boys said that they were embarrassed and ashamed of their family situations," Rafferty wrote. She quotes one boy: "It is an awful secret I have to hide, but I can't change anything. It would have been a lot easier for me if my mom had been stright, but I know that's impossible." -30- //////// //////// //// /// /// //// //// /// /// //////// //// -------------------------------------------- /// /// //// //// ------ ------------------------------------------- //////// //////// //////// -----