Peer-reviewed article
The Gay Parental Turn: Canadian Gay Fathers and the Reorganization of Care and Community.
Underwood SW ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This peer-reviewed research examines how gay fathers in Canada experience family and community relationships. The study is based on interviews with 18 mostly white, middle-class gay fathers and explores how they maintain connections to the LGBTQ+ community while managing intensive parenting demands. The research shows that fathers struggle to balance parenting with community ties due to time constraints, distance, and limited childcare support, and gradually shift their social networks toward straight parents in their children's social circles.
Key points
- Gay fathers express gratitude for LGBTQ+ ancestors and activists whose work secured marriage and parenting rights
- Fathers want support from family and gay friends but find parenting demands complicated by geographic distance and limited childcare
- As children grow, fathers build social community with straight parents rather than maintaining gay community ties
- Social class, whiteness, and homonormativity shape how these Canadian gay fathers reorganize their lives
- The study identifies a process called 'the gay parental turn' describing this social reorganization
Limitations
This study focuses exclusively on gay fathers and does not examine children's well-being, development, or outcomes. The sample is homogeneous (mostly white, upper-middle-class Canadian men), limiting generalizability to diverse populations or other contexts.
Abstract
Community has long been key to the well-being of gay men, yet little research examines how gay fathers, specifically, relate to the broader LGBTQ+ community. Drawing on interviews with 18 mostly White, (upper-) middle-class Canadian gay fathers, I investigate their expectations and experiences of family and community, showing they describe 'gay community' in terms of gay ancestors, friends, and shared gay activities. Fathers express deep gratitude for past LGBTQ+ people whose interdependent collective struggle secured their rights to marry and parent. They hope for support from family and gay friends and strive to maintain community ties, but find their efforts complicated by the demands of intensive parenting, geographic distance, and limited childcare support. As children grow, fathers build community with the straight parents of their children's friends, demonstrating how social class, whiteness, and homonormativity shape the reorganisation of these Canadian gay fathers' lives-a process I call the gay parental turn.