The Queer Parent's Primer: A Lesbian and Gay Families' Guide to Navigating the Straight World [Paperback]

Stephanie A. Brill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2001

Straight talk for Gay parents - a practical guide to parenting challenges * Includes examples and interactive exercises to help you through conflicts, define and protect your family, and celebrate and nourish a proud and loving household * Covers the practical realities of laying a foundation for healthy parenting, coming out once and for all, finding culturally sensitive schools, and making decisions about spirituality and family celebrations * Also includes a section on special concerns of single parents, the complications of breaking up, and the legal concerns of protecting your family * The author is both parenting educator and a lesbian mother Today, more and more gays and lesbians are choosing to reinvent what family means by making up their own minds how they would like to go about having children and raising them. The practical challenges these families face are enormous, including the all-too-familiar consequences of a society-wide disconnect that insists on equating 'family values' with various forms of homophobic intolerance. The Queer Parent's Primer is an empathetic guide that offers gay and lesbian parents real-life parenting solutions to the many practical challenges they face.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Stephanie Brill is a midwife, and a lesbian mother of two growing children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications; 1 edition (March 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572242264
• ISBN-13: 978-1572242265
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,013,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars For Beginner's Only, August 19, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Queer Parent's Primer: A Lesbian and Gay Families' Guide to Navigating the Straight World (Paperback)

The advice offered here is the most pedestrian of any "primer" I've ever read. I didn't need to read this book to know that "communication is important in any family" and other "words of wisdom" offered in this tome. Most of the "advice" culled within these pages is plain and simple, common sense. The author repeats herself on virtually every page. There wasn't anything here that I couldn't have figured out for myself and much of it was so simplistic that it was borderline insulting. Don't waste your time or money.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In praise of, February 23, 2001

By 

E. Wyatt "sfrwmom" (Corvallis, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Queer Parent's Primer: A Lesbian and Gay Families' Guide to Navigating the Straight World (Paperback)

This is the most inclusive book I have ever read on the subject of being... and certainly the most inclusive of anything on ... parenting! Anyone could find themselves in these pages! Ms. Brill's amazing ability to cover the scope of so many configurations of families and to give them such compassionate support is just delightful and she does it with such ease of language that it is fun to read!

The content is so rich with information and so clearly worded; it speaks volumes for the resume of the author herself. The topics she covers and the issues she presents go far beyond what one would expect - and they continue to be very thought provoking in my family! Some of our favorites are; the question of biology versus the strength of family, pride in naming ourselves within our family, and gender awareness issues. It goes into so much more though - even into children's issues, spirituality, single parenting, and legal issues of all kinds.

I really just can't say enough about how happy my family & I are to have such a valuable resource!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tiresome and Judgmental, June 1, 2005

By 

Rainbow Mom - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Queer Parent's Primer: A Lesbian and Gay Families' Guide to Navigating the Straight World (Paperback)

I bought this book with high hopes and felt guilty for not liking it. Brill establishes a narrow range of acceptable choices for gay-headed households, and passes judgment on everything from what kids should call parents to whether or not to affiliate with a mainstream church or synagogue. It is also repetitive and emphasizes the obvious: that parents have to be out and secure in their identity in order to raise happy & healthy kids. Every time I haven't read it in a while, I'll pick it up again, only to remember how much I hate it and cast it aside in annoyance.
I gave it two stars instead of one because 1) hey, it's something and there's not much out there, and 2) sometimes bad books inspire other authors to write better ones.