I recently read a review of the Ruth Benedict Prize winning "Gay Fatherhood: Narratives of Family and Citizenship in America" (Lewin 2009). I have no experience with this issue at all in that I don't believe I know a single gay dad (single or not). Hence an interesting topic to look into. According to the review, this ethnography looks at the way kinship and affinity are defined when two contradictory-seeming identities meet, being gay as well as fathers. In the States, the political Right is no supporter of gay parenting but, at the same time, the Left voices opinions that gay dads fall into the heteronormative ideal and assimilate. Can men who become dads still be queer, according to the subcultural definition? Lewis explores "how genetic information can be interpreted in creating a family" and legibility among the general public validate the forming of this family unit. Interestingly, while some fathers feel less gay since fatherhood leads them into normative adulthood, other fathers feel more gay since having a child brings forth questions of lifestyle choices, parenting beliefs, and genetic as well as social inheritance.
http://thewillsadopt.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/interesting-article-on-yahoo-today/saferedirect-11/
Interesting! I wonder whether the identity of "parent" just takes over as the dominant identity (previously "gay"?)?
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