Mums and mums, dads and dads, mums and dads, mums, dads and the rest...

The latest edition of the Journal of Marriage and Family (Volume 72) is largely dedicated to discussion of a recent meta-analysis of studies that have looked at the impact of parental gender on children.


The issue of single-gender parents and, more commonly, ‘fatherlessness’ is of ongoing interest to researchers and politicians in a climate where conservative (and sometimes not so conservative) commentators like to regularly remind the public that children who grow up without fathers are at risk of all sorts of social and emotional deficiencies. Single heterosexual mothers certainly bear their fair share of the brunt of this criticism. But the most heated vitriol is directed toward lesbian mothers who intentionally conceive children outside of a married, heterosexual union. (And, of course, the idea of gay men raising children without mothers sends most conservatives into conniptions, although gay-male parenthood currently has a lower profile than lesbian parenting.)

Work, Love, Play needs more people!

The Work, Love, Play study is seeking more GLBTI parents to be part of our research project.

The first survey (2008) was completed by over 450 people, of which around 350 people stated they were happy for us to invite them to be part of future studies.This was a fantastic response. However, some groups are currently under-represented in the study and we would like to boost numbers in these areas if possible.

Not surprisingly, the majority of responses to the 2008 survey were from lesbians who live in inner-city areas. Victoria, QLD and NSW were also well represented. People we would like to hear more from are:

• gay dads of all descriptions
• men and women who live in rural and regional areas
• men and women who live in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia or the ACT
• gay dads from Tasmania
• gay dads from New Zealand

If you know any same-sex parents (who are part of a couple or GLBTI single parents) and who fit any of the above categories please forward this message to them.

Prop 8 has its day

It seems to be largely absent from the Australian media, but the trial in a lawsuit seeking to overturn California's Proposition 8 began on the 11th of January in the US District Court in San Francisco.


Proposition 8 (also known as the California Marriage Protection Act) was a constitutional amendment passed at the California State elections in November 2008. The measure added a new provision to the constitution stipulating that, “ Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

Proposition 8 overturned a previous ruling by the California Supreme Court which decreed that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry, and in turn threatened to annul existing same-sex marriages (Ellen and Portia being perhaps the most famous example of couples in this situation).

The latest

The NSW Government has decided against allowing lesbian and gay couples the right to adopt, despite a six-month parliamentary inquiry finding it would be in the best interests of children to allow it. This is also despite single people (including gay men and lesbians) being able to adopt in NSW and many gay and lesbian couples already fostering children. Read more news on this issue here and here.

The NSW Government feels that the issue is too complex and politically sensitive to move forward with and that the community is not ready for gay adoption to be allowed. This seems a little bit weak given that Sydney is the apparent "gay mecca" of Australia. Lesbians and gay men have adoption rights in the ACT, Western Australia and Tasmania; skies have not fallen and, to the best of my knowledge, neither have governments as a result of this.

The NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby has of course vowed to carry on their campaign around adoption rights in NSW.

Stephen Page has a good post on his Australian Gay and Lesbian Law Blog about this.

What happened over Christmas?

A lot, it seems, happened over Christmas if you live in Victoria, Australia. On January 1st, 2010 (or in reality the first business day of the year, 4th January) the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment (ART) Act 2008 came into effect. This means a number of things for same-sex families.

Firstly, two mothers can now register as parents on a birth certificate. Forms have been changed so all new babies can register their two mums. But it also applies retrospectively so any child with only one parent listed on their birth certificate can now take both their mums for a visit to Births, Deaths and Marriages to have this changed. While I haven’t investigated this for myself yet, by all accounts the staff at BDM (that’s Birth’s, Deaths and Marriages for anyone whose mind was heading elsewhere with this acronym) have been well-trained and are friendly towards same-sex couples.

Friends of mine from Canberra (who have been able to register two Mums on a birth certificate for a while now – welcome to the party Victoria!!), have told me that receiving their child’s birth certificate with both their names on it was an unexpectedly emotional moment for them. I can understand this. There aren’t many places where same-sex couples are formally acknowledged by the powers-that-be, so it is not surprising that bland, legalistic documents can occasionally generate a teary or two. When my partner was granted Australian residency on the basis of our ‘interdependent partnership’ we received a piece of paper with a government letterhead that actually included the word spouse in the text. This moment occurred at the height of John Howard’s conservative, senate-majority reign and in the context of Australia’s ongoing rejection of same-sex marriage. On so many levels, both political and personal, reading that simple, black and white piece of paper was an immensely significant moment (causing my partner to run around the house like a mad thing).