Running Head: Contemporary Families Study

Parenthood is often considered to be the prerogative of heterosexual adults. In fact, however, substantial numbers of lesbian women and gay men are parents, and many American children are being reared in families headed by these parents (Patterson & Friel, 2000). Such families have become the subject of a number of controversies in legal and public policy domains in recent years (Patterson & Redding, 1996). Social science research on lesbian mothers, gay fathers, and their children has also emerged, and a considerable research literature has accumulated (Patterson, 2000). The most visible group of non-heterosexual parents is lesbian mothers. Many lesbian mothers conceived and gave birth to children within the context of heterosexual relationships, but adopted a lesbian identity later in life (Kirkpatrick, 1996). More recently, observers have commented upon the growing numbers of women who have chosen to have children after assuming a lesbian identity, and this trend has sometimes been referred to as a "lesbian baby boom " (e.g. Patterson 1994; Weston, 1991). Similar trends can be observed among gay fathers, but perhaps because of their prominence in child custody cases (Patterson & Redding, 1996), lesbian mothers have generally drawn more attention from researchers. In the past, many lesbian women conceived children in the context of a heterosexua