LGBTQ+ parents experience significant stress with few supports.(For more information, visit Perinatal Mental Health Issues for the LGBT Community.) LGBTQ+ individuals experience postpartum depression more in the first year of a baby’s life than others, according to a study from the University of California, San Francisco. A denial of rights for LGBTQ+ parents may have a socio-emotional impact on perinatal mental health.Homophobia –– especially when compounded by the racism that communities of color already face –– contributes to marginalization, and policies, practices and procedures often exclude LBGTQ+ parents as a result. And while LGBTQ+ parents featured in popular culture tend to be Caucasian and affluent - think of Neil Patrick Harris, Elton John, or Jillian Michaels - most real-life LBGTQ+ parents and their children are more likely to be ethnic and racial minorities and closer to living near the poverty line than other families. More than 35% of LGBTQ+-identified people are raising children, and each of these families face diverse experiences and varying needs, depending on their gender and sexual expression and the avenues through which they choose to become parents, whether that be through surrogacy, biological, adoption or fostering.īut while the numbers of LGBTQ+ parents - those who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer, including intersex, asexual and other gender and sexual identities - is growing, it is a group that still lacks full legal rights and experiences other inequities, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

–– and that number is expected to quadruple in the coming decade. Celebrating Diversity: Resources for LGBTQ+ ParentsĪccording to UCLA’s Williams Institute, over 110,000 couples falling into one or more of the diverse identities that make up LBGTQ+ are raising children in the U.S.

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