The “Second Generation”: LGBTQ Youth with LGBTQ Parents

Do lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) 1 parents have LGBTQ children? Yes, they do—sometimes—just as heterosexual and gender conforming parents do. Yet, research on the psychosocial development of LGBTQ youth has focused exclusively on adolescents from heterosexualand gender-conforming-parent families. This line of inquiry has revealed that LGBTQ identity formation can be a lengthy and arduous process for some LGBTQ youth (Savin-Williams, 1996 ) , as they may internalize negative, heterosexist messages from society and, often, family (Morrow, 2004 ) . In turn, some LGBTQ youth experience feelings of isolation (Williams, Connolly, Pepler, & Craig, 2005 ) , which may contribute to increased risk for mental health problems, such as depression and substance abuse (Morrow, 2004 ) . It is unknown, however, whether these fi ndings can be generalized to “second generation” youth—that is, LGBTQ youth with LGBTQ parents. Perhaps having an LGBTQ parent might ease one’s own coming out process; on the other hand, second generation youth may be “doubly marginalized” (Goldberg, 2007 , p. 127), as a result of societal discrimination in relation to both their own and their parents’ identities. Youth and young adults who report nonheterosexual and gender nonconforming identities, and who also have LGBTQ parents, have been included in a few existing studies (e.g., Bailey, Bobrow, Wolfe, & Mikach, 1995 ; Kosciw & Diaz, 2008 ; Tasker & Golombok, 1997 ) . The experiences of these individuals as second generation, however, have received very little attention in the family and social science literatures, despite calls for research on this population (Goldberg, 2007 ; MooneySomers, 2006 ) . One reason for this lack of attention is, perhaps, that researchers have been wary of highlighting the existence of LGBTQ youth with LGBTQ parents for fear their studies will be utilized as evidence for arguments against LGBTQ parenting ( Stacey & Biblarz, 2001 ). Given that LGBTQ parents face institutionalized discrimination (e.g., some states, such as Mississippi and Utah, continue to deny same-sex couples the opportunity to adopt children; National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 2011 ) , these concerns are valid. Furthermore, there are still relatively few studies of children with LGBTQ parents in general, due in part to the challenge of accessing LGBTQ-parent families (Stacey & Biblarz, 2001 ); thus, recruitment of second generation youth, a subgroup of an already dif fi cult-to-access population, is likely an even greater challenge for researchers. Although little empirical research exists on their experiences, nonacademic writers and queer The “Second Generation”: LGBTQ Youth with LGBTQ Parents