“Life Is Already Hard Enough”: Lesbian and Gay Adoptive Parents’ Experiences and Concerns After the 2016 Presidential Election Kaitlin A. Gabriele-Black 1 , Abbie E. Goldberg 2 , Melissa H. Manley 2 , and Reihonna L. Frost 2 1 Department of Psychology, Salve Regina University 2 Department of Psychology, Clark University The 2016 U.S. presidential election was an especially difficult election for many Americans, particularly individuals with one or more marginalized identities. This qualitative study explores the experiences of sexual minority adoptive parents (n = 50), many of whom were members of multiracial families. Parents completed an online survey 2–3 weeks after the November 2016 presidential election, and 2.5 months later (1–2 weeks after the January 2017 inauguration). Through an integrated minority stress and intersectional theory lens, we examined participants’ emotional responses to this stressful, ambiguous political event, their perceptions of how immediate and extended family relationships shifted during the election and its aftermath, and how they coped with stress, including relationship stress, exacerbated by the election and the political climate. Most participants reported experiencing negative emotions such as fear/ anxiety, anger, and sadness upon learning the outcome of the election. Many participants reported that the election impacted family dynamics, including conflict with extended family, partners, or children. Adoptive sexual minority parents coped in a variety of ways, including by pursuing activism, connecting with others, and disengaging from thinking about the election. These findings have implications for how mental health care providers may support adoptive sexual minority parent families to cope with stressful political events. Keywords: coping, election, emotions, sexual minority parent families The 2016 U.S. presidential election cycle, start- ing with the nomination and selection of major party candidates and concluding on November 8th with the election of Donald Trump, was a particularly difficult one for many Americans given that the results were largely unexpected (Flegenheimer & Barbaro, 2016) and the majority of voters—partic- ularly sexual minorities—had supported a different candidate (Kiley & Maniam, 2016). For those with minority statuses (e.g., sexual minorities, racial minorities, and adoptees), the election results appeared to represent a legitimate threat to their well-being, safety, and status within the U.S. (Brenoff, 2016; Cahill & Makadon, 2017; Fuchsman, 2017; Kteily & Bruneau, 2017; Potok, 2017; Tan et al., 2017). Indeed, following the election, one national survey of over 2000 Americans found that acceptance of sexual minori- ties dropped dramatically, for the first time in the poll’s history (The Harris Poll, 2018). The well- being of LGBTQ individuals also dipped after the election as fears about the future increased: A 2016 Gallup poll found that the percentage of LGBTQ adults who considered themselves to be “thriving” dropped significantly following the election (Gates, 2017). The 2016 election itself marked the end of a contentious and highly charged political cam- paign season. Donald Trump campaigned on a platform that, according to many observers This article was published Online First May 13, 2021. Kaitlin A. Gabriele-Black https://orcid.org/0000-0001- 7553-6297 Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- dressed to Kaitlin A. Gabriele-Black, Department of Psy- chology, Salve Regina University, 100 Ochre Point Avenue, Newport, RI 02840, United States. Email: kaitlin.black@salve.edu 103 Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice © 2021 American Psychological Association 2021, Vol. 10, No. 2, 103–123 ISSN: 2160-4096 https://doi.org/10.1037/cfp0000162 This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers. This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.