There are three main ways that gays and lesbians are raising children and acquiring families without the courts becoming involved. The first way, which is also the most common way, is when heterosexual marriages dissolve after one parent apparentl y "comes out." With this situation, as long as there isn't a messy custody battle in court most often the child is raised by the gay or lesbia parent, and is also fully aware of his or her parent's sexual tendencies. The second method is lesbi ans receiving artificial insemination. Estimates of the number of children born to lesbians through artificial insemination range in the tens of thousands. Pacific Reproductive Services is a clinic in San Francisco where a growing number of lesbians are becoming clients. The clinic reports that more than a 100 lesbians use the sperm bank each month. Lastly, there is one of the newer methods: gays and lesbians going into an agreement with each other to produce a child. In some cases they share duties and custody in raising the child. In other cases the men or women avoid any attachment with the child at all (Henry III 67-68). Lesbian and gay parents go throughout the daily routines of life no differently than heterosexual parents do.
In most cases everyone just wants what is best for the child. This brings on the question if being raised in a same-sex dominated environment will have a psychological effect on the child. The fact still remains that the traumas and hardships fac ed by both the parents and the children of gay and lesbian households will be totally different from those faced by heterosexual families. This is why many gay and lesbian families keep their family structure so secretive, to avoid the comments, teasing, and publicity surrounding their private ...