Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is
by Abigail Garner
List Price:
Our Price: $7.89
You Save: $6.06 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.97 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Abigail GarnerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-04-01
ISBN: 0060527587
Number of pages: 288
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Book Reviews of Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is
Book Review: Not truly about "families like mine"
Summary: 2 Stars
I'm a lesbian mom raising a son, so I was excited to find a book that claimed to be about families like ours. Unfortunately, I found the book quite a disappointment. The author does explain in the prologue that, since she was interviewing people in their 20s and 30s, most of them predate the "gayby" boom and are actually children of heterosexual marriages, with a parent later coming out as gay or lesbian. This would explain the big emphasis in her book on topics like how to come out to your kids, custody issues and contention between the gay parent and the straight one, break-ups in general, problems amongst extended family with new partners, etc. Most of it would be irrelevant to gay or lesbian people that come out before conceiving or adopting children, whether as couples or on their own.
Also, while the book was published in 2004, the author spent 8 years researching it, and most of the folks interviewed were in their 20s or 30s. So most of the experiences these grown children talk about it -- issues at school, with friends, with parents dying of AIDS, and society in general -- would have happened from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. Where I am, in Massachusetts in 2008, the landscape looks pretty different. Kids may still make nasty cracks at school, but the teachers are very unlikely to. Kids don't assume that if your mom is a lesbian, you might give them AIDS. When I introduce my partner at church, people don't think we're in business together. And while the whole chapter on parents dying of AIDS is probably invaluable to the grown children who had to deal with that, I don't know any gay or lesbian families with young children who struggle with that now.
It was mildly interesting from a general historical/sociological point-of-view. But I didn't find it at all helpful from a parenting point-of-view, and it's not a book I would want my 10-year-old son to read, since I think it paints a far gloomier picture of society than what he is likely to encounter. As far as the book's title goes, instead of "Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is," maybe "Children of Formerly Straight Parents Tell It Like It Was," would be more accurate. Judging by the research the author has done, clearly there's a sizable demographic there. But neither my family nor my son is part of it.
Summary of Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is
Abigail Garner was five years old when her parents divorced and her dad came out as gay. Like the millions of children growing up in these families today, she often found herself in the middle of the political and moral debates surrounding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) parenting.
Drawing on a decade of community organizing, and interviews with more than fifty grown sons and daughters of LGBT parents, Garner addresses such topics as coming out to children, facing homophobia at school, co-parenting with ex-partners, the impact of AIDS, and the children's own sexuality.
Both practical and deeply personal, Families Like Mine provides an invaluable insider's perspective for LGBT parents, their families, and their allies.
General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Mentoring Young Adults for a Whole, Healthy Sexuality
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Womenby Naomi Wolf
Harper Perennial; Published: 2002-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
Slut! Growing Up Female with a Bad Reputationby Leora Tanenbaum
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2000-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.98
Price in other shops:
The Good Vibrations Guide to Sex: The Most Complete Sex Manual Ever Writtenby Cathy Winks, Anne Semans
Cleis Press; Published: 2002-11-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.86
Price in other shops:
Sex for One: The Joy of Selflovingby Betty Dodson
Three Rivers Press; Published: 1996-03-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.45
Price in other shops:
Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Isby Abigail Garner
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 2005-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirelyby Kate Bornstein
Routledge; Published: 1997-12-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $25.89
Price in other shops:
Free Your Mindby Ellen Bass
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 1996-06-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.70
Price in other shops:
GLBTQ: The Survival Guide for Queer and Questioning Teensby Kelly Huegel
Free Spirit Publishing; Published: 2003-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops:
In Your Face: Stories from the Lives of Queer Youth (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies) (Haworth Gay & Lesbian Studies)by Mary L Gray
Routledge; Published: 1999-04-05; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Hello Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks and Other Outlawsby Kate Bornstein
Seven Stories Press; Published: 2006-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.43
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Lesbian Parenting Book: A Guide to Creating Families and Raising Childrenby D.Merilee Clunis, G. Dorsey Green
Seal Press; Published: 2003-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Emma and Meesha My Boy: A Two Mom Storyby Kaitlyn Taylor Considine
TWOMOMBOOKS.com; Published: 2005-11-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.95
Love Makes a Family: Portraits of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Parents and Their FamiliesUniversity of Massachusetts Press; Published: 1999-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.61
Price in other shops:
Confessions of the Other Mother: Non-Biological Lesbian Moms Tell AllBeacon Press; Published: 2006-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.00
Price in other shops:
The Complete Lesbian and Gay Parenting Guideby Arlene Istar Lev
Published: 2004-11-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.65
Price in other shops:
The Family Bookby Todd Parr
Little, Brown Young Readers; Published: 2003-10-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.01
Price in other shops:
And Tango Makes Threeby Justin Richardson, Peter Parnell
Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; Published: 2005-04-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.54
For Lesbian Parents: Your Guide to Helping Your Family Grow Up Happy, Healthy, and Proudby Suzanne M. Johnson, Elizabeth O'Connor
The Guilford Press; Published: 2001-03-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Out of the Ordinary: Essays on Growing Up with Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Parentsby Noelle Howey, Ellen Samuels, Margarethe Cammermeyer
Stonewall Inn Editions; Published: 2000-08-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
How It Feels to Have a Gay or Lesbian Parent: A Book by Kids for Kids of All Agesby Judith E. Snow
Routledge; Published: 2004-07-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.10
Price in other shops: