LGBT individuals and couples become parents in a myriad of ways such as adoption, foster parenting, donor insemination, surrogacy arrangements, and having children during previous heterosexual relationships. Discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity persists, and our families don’t necessarily fit into the neat categories within family law and adoption law and policy. Therefore, LGBT parents and prospective parents need to learn the legal status of their parent-child relationships and the legal protections available in their state to protect their families.

In this section you will find basic overviews of the rights of lesbian and gay parents to custody and visitation with their children after a heterosexual divorce, the parental rights of gay and lesbian parents who create families with their same-sex partners, the rights of transgender parents, and laws and policies regarding adoption and fostering by LGBT people.

You will also find information about the social science research on children raised by gay parents, the child welfare community’s opposition to restrictions on parenting by gay people, and other materials that are useful to advocate against discriminatory treatment of lesbian and gay parents.