Narrating Kinship and Connection: The Life Stories of Adult-Children Raised by LGBTQ Parents

几十年来，关于LGBTQ父母抚养孩子的后果的担忧一直笼罩着LGBTQ养育子女的辩论。虽然这些关于风险和恐惧的叙述在英国已经不那么占主导地位了，但这些争论今天仍然在继续，对LGBTQ父母的批评称，孩子的“最佳利益”是他们的主要优先事项。“有风险”的孩子会被以LGBTQ为主导的家庭“迷惑”，这种话语一直是有关LGBTQ育儿的政治辩论和学术研究的核心。虽然现有的一些研究认为，LGBTQ父母的孩子与异性恋父母抚养的孩子本质上是一样的，但也有人认为，LGBTQ父母抚养的孩子可能会变得更进步、更开放或更包容。然而，在这些争论中缺少的是由这些父母和这些家庭抚养长大的孩子们的声音。考虑到这一点，拟议的奖学金研究将扩展我的博士项目，该项目探讨了英国女同性恋、双性恋、跨性别和酷儿（LBTQ）父母抚养的人的生活。通过借鉴我现有的研究，并对由同性恋父亲和跨性别父母抚养长大的人进行进一步的研究，我将制作一份专题论文草稿，探讨LGBTQ父母如何讲述他们的生活故事，特别是解决家庭、身份、社会规范和历史背景的交叉点。参与研究的参与者有各种各样的家庭结构，包括：单亲、已婚或分居的LGBTQ父母所生的人，父母在童年/青少年时期透露自己LGBTQ身份的人，异性恋和LGBTQ父母通过离婚/分居或预先安排的共同抚养协议结合的人，已知的捐赠者，以及与LGBTQ父母没有法律和/或生物学关系但被认为是父母的人。这些都不是简单的故事，也没有叙述整齐的家庭结构。因此，这个项目旨在捕捉这些生活叙事的复杂性和混乱性，注意到参与者描述他们日常家庭生活的多重、矛盾和经常相互矛盾的方式。这个项目解决了一些关键问题，比如：LGBTQ父母的人如何理解他们自己的家庭和“家庭”的概念？LGBTQ的家庭故事在他们的人生叙事中有怎样的特色？有一个LGBTQ的父母是如何影响孩子们在童年早期之后的选择和家庭实践的？这本专著将研究LGBTQ父母的处境，因为尽管他们大多不是LGBTQ，但他们可能仍然会经历耻辱、歧视和与LGBTQ人群相似的生活事件。就像那些认为自己是LGBTQ的人一样，LGBTQ父母的成年子女成长的社会历史背景显然对他们的人生历程如何展开至关重要。目前研究的参与者已经注意到法律限制的影响，例如第28条，对他们在学校和同龄人群体中的遭遇。然而，LGBTQ父母的孩子的叙事并不是完全复制LGBTQ的故事，而是包含了独特的、与众不同的经历。在我的专著中，LGBTQ父母抚养的孩子的第一手故事将探讨诸如遗传关系、起源、酷儿文化、出柜以及LGBTQ家庭中的“正常”和规范观念等问题。这些故事往往围绕着一种渴望，即感到舒适和归属感，感到被理解为是什么让他们的家庭变得普通，是什么让他们与众不同。这本专著将展示话语和家庭生活实践之间的相互作用，展示有多少LGBTQ父母努力在突出父母的少数族裔性别和性取向作为其身份的重要组成部分之间找到平衡，以及将他们的经历正常化以“适应”特定的空间和时间时刻。

Fears about the outcomes of children raised by LGBTQ parents have overwhelmed LGBTQ parenting debates for decades. While these narratives of risk and fear have become somewhat less dominant in the UK, these arguments still continue today, with critiques against LGBTQ parenting citing the "best interests" of children as their main priority. This discourse of the "at risk" child, who will be "confused" by their LGBTQ-headed family, has consistently been at the core of political debates and academic research regarding LGBTQ parenting. While some existing research has argued that children of LGBTQ parents are essentially the same as children raised by heterosexual parents, others have suggested that LGBTQ parenting may lead to children becoming more progressive, open-minded or accepting. However, what is missing within these debates are the voices of the children brought up by these parents and in these families. With this in mind, the proposed fellowship study will expand on my PhD project which explored the lives of people raised by lesbian, bisexual, trans and queer (LBTQ) parents in the UK. Through drawing on my existing study, and conducting further research with people raised by gay fathers and trans parents, I will produce a draft monography that explores how people with LGBTQ parents narrate their life stories, particularly addressing the intersections of family, identity, social norms and historical context. Participants involved in the study have a variety of family structures, these included: people born to single, coupled or separated LGBTQ identifying parents, people whose parents disclosed their LGBTQ identity during their childhood/adolescence, a combination of heterosexual and LGBTQ parents through either divorce/separation or prearranged co-parenting arrangements, people with known donors, and those with LGBTQ parents who are not legally and/or biologically related but are considered parents. These are not simple stories and do not narrate neat family configurations. Thus, this project aims to capture some of the complexity and messiness of these life narratives, noting the multiple, ambivalent and often contradictory ways in which participants described their everyday family lives.This project addresses some key questions, such as: How do people with LGBTQ parents make sense of their own families and the notion of 'the family'? How do LGBTQ family stories feature in their life narratives? And how does having an LGBTQ parent shape the ongoing choices and family practices beyond early childhood? The monograph will examine the position of people with LGBTQ parents, as while they are mostly not LGBTQ themselves, they may still experience stigma, discrimination and similar life events to LGBTQ people. Like those who identify as LGBTQ, the sociohistorical context in which adult-children of LGBTQ parents are raised is clearly crucial to how their life course unfolds. Participants in the current study have noted the impact of legal restrictions, such as Section 28, on their encounters at school and within their peer groups. However, the narratives of children with LGBTQ parents do not entirely replicate LGBTQ stories but include unique and distinctive experiences.The first hand stories of people raised by LGBTQ parents presented in my monograph will explore issues such as genetic relatedness, origins, queer culture, coming-out, and ideas of 'normality' and normativity within LGBTQ families. These stories frequently centre on a desire to feel comfortable and belong, to feel understood for what made their families ordinary and what made them distinctive. This monograph will demonstrate the interplay between discourses and practices of family life, showing how many with LGBTQ parents strive to find a balance between highlighting their parents' minority genders and sexualities as vital parts of their identities, as well as normalising their experiences to 'fit' into specific spatial and temporal moments.