Engaging ideas, transforming minds
Engaging ideas, transforming minds

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328 pages
6.75 x 9.75 inches
April 2009
Print ISBN: 9781894549783

Overview

This ground-breaking collection of writing brings vital and refreshing insights into current discussions about queer parenting. The essays blend narrative and academic voices from Canada, the United States, England and Australia. The contributors are parents, prospective parents, writers, academics, lawyers, activists, health care professionals and — most significantly — queer spawn, the children of LGBTQ parents. The themes represented in these 40 essays include butches raising sons; queer youth as parents; trans experience in fertility clinics; legal and historical reflections; bisexuality and adoption; race relations in the family; heteronormativity in queer family kids’ books; class issues within families; dealing with infertility; polyamory and parenting; discussions with sperm donors, single moms, gay dads; developments in reproductive technologies; rural and urban experience; and reflections on the meanings of biology and of “queer” parenting.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Red Rock Baby Candy: Beginnings ...
The Squeaky Animal Hat Club: A Queer Spawn Comes Out Melissa Hart
Go On, You Choose: The Ethics of Getting Pregnant by Nagging Emma Donoghue
Daddies & Papas 2B: The Evolution of Possibilities Interview with Chris Veldhoven & Thom Vernon
Boldly Going Where Few Men Have Gone Before: One Trans Man's Experience Syrus Marcus Ware
Red Rock Baby Candy: Infertile Homosexual Speaks! Shira Spector
The Making and Unmaking of Biological Ties in Gay and Lesbian Families Suzanne Pelka
Extra Love: An Open Adoption Story Interview with Ann-Marie MacDonald

Part 2: From Queer to Paternity: Queering the Family Tree
The Gift of Life: Sperm Donors/Donor Dads — Then and Now Groupinterview with sperm donors/donor dads
My Co-world and Welcome To It: Adventures in Non-Conjugal Parenting Aviva Rubin
To Bi or Not To Bi: Bisexuality and Disclosure in the Adoption System Allison Eadie et al
The Revolutionary Artist Mom and Baby League: Putting Young Queer Parents on the Map Rebecca Trotzky-Sirr
Beyond Thomas Beatie: Trans Men and the New Parenthood Maura Ryan
From Queer to Paternity: A Gay Man’s Uncharted Voyage into Co-Parenting Derek P. Scott
Hip Queer Single Mamas: A Community Group interview with single moms group
Beyond Normalization: An Analysis of Heteronormativity in Children’s Picture Books Anika Stafford

Part 3: Handing Out Cigars: History, Visibility and Social Change
Politics of the Heart: Recognition of Homoparental Families in Quebec Nancy Nicol
Handing Out Cigars: Outlaw Moms No More Lois Fine
Two Pathways to a Revolution: The Difference that Context Makes in Canad and the U.S. David Rayside
Mommies in Critical Care Diane Flacks
Reading, Writing and Resilience: Queer Spawn Speak Out About School Rachel Epstein et al.
A Queer Spawn Manifesto: Empowerment and Recognition Jamie K. Evans

Part 4: All Our Roots Need Rain: Parenting dilemmas in the day-to-day
Little White Children: Notes from a Chicana Dyke Dad Karleen Pendleton-Jiménez The Move Cindy Holmes & Anne Fleming
All Our Roots Need Rain: Queer Parenting from the Sri Lankan Diaspora N. Gitanjali Lena
Race Relations in the Family: On Being a Transracial Spawn of White Queer Parents Tobi Hill-Meyer
Lost: The Unthinkable Cost of Love Serena Patterson
Radical Fairies and Lesbian Avengers: Reflections from a Gay Dad and His Dyke Daughter Julie Mooney-Somers & Eamon Somers
This Hyphenated Mothering Thing Makeda Silvera

Part 5: Houses Full of Love: What we offer our children
Dear Who-Knows-Who: An Expectant Mother's Parenting Intentions Elizabeth Ruth
In the Best Interests of the Child: The Awful Truth about Queer-Raised Kids christina starr
Is Queer Parenting Possible? Shelley M. Park
Sex and the Formerly Single Mom Jaime Grant
In Defence of "Traditional" Families JoannaRadbord Houses Full of Love: Bringing up Children in Polyamorous Relationships Alessandra (Alex) Iantaffi
Who’s Your Daddy?: Reflections on Masculinity in Butch-Parented SonsLaurie Bell
I Am My Father’s Son Jonathan Feakins

Contributors’ Notes
Resources

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