Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Families and Parenting Page 1 of 15 PRINTED FROM the Encyclopedia of Social Work, accessed online. (c) National Association of Social Workers and Oxford University Press USA, 2016. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the applicable license agreement governing use of the Encyclopedia of Social Work accessed online, an authorized individual user may print out a PDF of a single article for personal use, only (for details see Privacy Policy). date: 22 January 2018 Demographic information updated to reflect latest statistics of LGBT coupling and families. Bibliography and citations updated to include new studies and literature. Updated on 01 May 2014. The previous version of this content can be found here. Abstract and Keywords According to U.S. census data, an estimated 270,313 American children were living in households headed by same-sex couples in 2005, and nearly twice that number had a single lesbian or gay parent. Since the 1990s, a quiet revolution has been blooming in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. More and more lesbians and gay men from all walks of life are becoming parents. LGBT people become parents for some of the same reasons that heterosexual people do. Some pursue parenting as single people and others seek to create a family as a couple; still other LGBT people became parents in a heterosexual relationship. Although there are many common themes between LGBT parenting and heterosexual parenting, there are also some unique features. Unlike their heterosexual counterparts, who couple, get pregnant, and give birth, most LGBT individuals and couples who wish to parent must consider many other variables in deciding whether to become parents because the birth option is not the only option. Keywords: bisexual, families, gay, lesbian, LGBT, parenting, parents, adoption, gay families, transgender Definitions Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals and couples who wish to parent must give more careful consideration to how they will become parents and, at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Families and Parenting Gerald P. Mallon Subject: Couples and Families, Gender and Sexuality, Human Behavior, Social Justice and Human Rights Online Publication Date: Jun 2013 DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.158 Encyclopedia of Social Work