The children of lesbian parents are less likely to identify as heterosexual as adults and much more likely to report same-sex attraction, according to a long-term study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, a think tank focused on sexual orientation and gender. As many as 6 million children and adults in the U. Nanette Gartrell, M. Started in , the study has been following the offspring of lesbian parents from conception into adulthood. For this latest report, 76 children of lesbian parents, now all adults in their mids, were asked about their sexual attraction, identification and behavior. Further, 54 percent of women and 33 percent of men with lesbian parents reported having a same-sex sexual experience between the ages of 17 and 25, compared to 38 percent of women and 9 percent of men in the NSFG group. As for the big gender gaps among men and women from both the NLLFS and NSFG groups, Gartrell said these differences are consistent with previous research over the past 15 years that suggests women experience sexuality more fluidity than men. About the broader National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study, Gartrell said its motivation was to understand the first generation of children conceived by donor insemination in the U.


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First off: Congratulations on making the very big decision to become a parent. Related: Growing your family through gestational surrogacy. You may be entering parenthood on your own. Sometimes one partner desires to be a biological parent, while other times both partners desire to eventually conceive and carry, which can increase your chances of a successful pregnancy. Alternatively, sometimes neither partner wants to be pregnant, instead preferring to adopt, foster, or find a surrogate. Intrauterine insemination IUI involves one partner choosing to become pregnant using her own eggs. Sometimes doctors use fertility medications to support ovulation and implantation. Either way, the hope is that the sperm reaches the egg after the procedure and results in a pregnancy. The overall success rate of IUI varies depending on many factors, including any underlying fertility issues, the type of sperm used, and other considerations like your age and overall health.
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Single parenthood is rarely easy for anyone, and Carrie Kaufman, a gay, single mom of 8-year-old twin daughters, explores the challenges in her fledgling blog, thegaymom. Some issues she addresses are universal: Her daughters see her ex-partner every other weekend; Kaufman misses having someone with whom to share the daily juggle of parenting duties; and she worries about how dating affects her daughters' lives. She said it's not the weighty issues that try her. She finds it fairly easy to have conversations with her girls about their sperm donor, politics, God, and the mature themes on that ever-more-complicated Fox television show, "Glee. If there's another person there, you get to trade off. Kaufman grew up in Las Vegas with her parents and younger brother in a small Jewish community, where she said she was used to being an outsider. And yet it wasn't until my late 20s that I came out. Even though it would take her a while to acknowledge her sexuality, Kaufman said for as long as she can remember, she never expected that she would marry a man and follow in the footsteps of her parents, who in March celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. I always wanted kids, but I could never see myself in that type of nuclear family.
Mandy has just turned 18, still an innocent virgin who day dreams about a boy at her college. She comes home for the summer break and her mom tells her they have arranged to visit all the boring, dim and distant family relatives; definitely the last thing she needs to do on holiday, so she asks if she can go and stay with her friend Suzie instead. Reluctantly her mom finally agrees. When she arrives at Suzie's she finds that her friend has had to go away for a night or two, and there is no one there to welcome her but her friend's mom, Kathryn, a beautiful mature cougar.