From Publishers Weekly
In the children's book classic Heather Has Two Mommies, Leslea Newman offered kids a chance to read about nontraditional families. Now Garner, who created the site FamiliesLikeMine.com, attempts to do the same for teens, young adults and their families by interweaving her experiences growing up with a gay father and straight mother with those of other children who were raised by lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender parents. She intends "to advocate for our families to be just that: families." Although there is no exact figure for the number of children who have grown up in LGBT families over the past two decades (estimates vary from one million to 16 million), the issues Garner raises about the messages that we pass on to our children "on what a "well-adjusted" child is; on the risks and advantages of coming out (for both parents and children); and on the effects of a "homo-hostile" world "affect increasing numbers of children whose parents are straight or queer. Despite Garner's decision to interview only children in their 20s and 30s, their concerns about finding a way to name family members (e.g., should a lesbian mother's long-term partner be called a "step-mom"? Are that step-mom's children stepsisters or -brothers?) and learning how to maintain nontraditional families in the wake of a parent's death or the breakup of a relationship between parent and partner, will reverberate for young people confronting similar difficulties. Nor does Garner flinch from addressing the complex issues surrounding what it means for children raised in LGBT families, herself included, to be, in the words of advocate Stefan Lynch, "culturally queer, erotically straight."
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From Booklist
Researchers commonly cite the estimation that one to three million American children are being raised by lesbian, gay male, bisexual, and transexual (LGBT) parents. Family rights activist Garner created a Web site for LGBT parents who are seeking guidance and resources, and she lectures nationwide on LGBT family issues. A straight daughter from a gay family, she chronicles and articulates the experiences of other adult children like herself, whom she has come to know during her eight years of community organizing, activism, and from almost 300 responses by potential participants in her research. Compellingly written, fortunately including definitions as needed (e.g., of
colager as derivative from the organizational acronym COLAGE [Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere]) and resource-referral guidance for LGBT families, this should quickly become a mainstay resource for many family service agencies and public libraries serving LGBT patrons.
Whitney ScottCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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