Lgbtq family meaning

LGBTQ+ Inclusive Definitions of Family

  • [HOSPITAL] adopts the following definition of “family” for purposes of hospital-wide visitation policy: “Family” means any person(s) who plays a significant role in an individual’s life. This may include a person(s) not legally related to the individual. Members of “family” include spouses, domestic partners, and both different-sex and same-sex significant others. “Family” includes a minor patient’s parents, regardless of the gender of either parent. Solely for purposes of visitation policy, the concept of parenthood is to be liberally construed without limitation as encompassing legal parents, foster parents, same-sex parent, step-parents, those serving in loco parentis, and other persons operating in caretaker roles.

This definition of "family" establishes a usefully broad concept of family. The specific enumeration of family members provides guidance to staff and prevents biased interpretations of “family.” It should also be noted that the term “domestic partners” in this definition encompasses not only domestic partners

Family Ties


What makes a family? It depends on where, when and who you ask.

“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything.” Actor Michael J. Fox knows a thing or two about the meaning of family. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in , Fox describes his wife Tracy as a “rock that keeps on rolling,” sticking with him through all the challenges of life with Parkinson’s and providing a strong foundation for their four children to increase and thrive (Tailor, ).

Across second and place, human beings contain shared Fox’s sentiment about the value of family in wonderful times and bad. But our ideas about what makes a family have varied considerably. Many Americans think of the “traditional” family as a husband + wife + children living together in a home. That’s a picture commonly seen on TV--think The Waltonsor Married with Children. But the so-called "nuclear" family is actually a relatively recent development. In other cultures—and here in the U.S.—there have always been other family arrangements, such as multiple generations living together under one roof. Even television has por

Ride or Die: Chosen Family among LGBTQ+ People

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posted on , authored byEli Anne Mannix Williams

People from all backgrounds form chosen families, meaning a group that is not related by biological or legal ties, but rather through intentional choice and desired community. Chosen family in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) communities is prominent because of societal and familial discrimination. Yet our theoretical and empirical knowledge of LGBTQ+ chosen families is now seriously out of date, and many new questions hold emerged. This study, based on 57 interviews with LGBTQ+ people, argues queer people are impacted by the historical legacy of LGBTQ+ chosen family but are radically reimagining it in a new cultural, social, and political climate. The first chapter explores the motivations for why participants formed chosen families. While rejection from family of origin continues to be a driving press, it manifests differently than in the past. The broader history of rejection provided a cultural roadmap for chosen families. It taught them in which dir

How to Prepare Kids for Prejudice Against Your LGBTQ Family

We dwell in a heteronormative society.

The heteronormative family is traditionally gendered, white, and middle- to upper-middle-class, and is characterized by adj parent-child relationships. In turn, people in general are assumed to be heterosexual, expected to wedding people of the “other” gender, and expected to procreate with their monogamous, different-gender partners.

LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender [trans], queer) people by their very nature exist outside of the sexual (and perhaps gender) binary and, often, the family binary in that any families they create will be considered “deviant”—that is, if their children are not conceived by a “real” man and a “real” gal in a heterosexual procreative context.

Children with LGBTQ parents are likely exposed to media, including TV and children’s books, that disproportionately represent mother-father families. In spin, as they develop, they become increasingly aware of how their families differ from those most commonly depicted in the media as well as