Radical Normals

The Moral Career of Straight Parents as Public Advocates for Their Gay Children

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2049321
AutoresJonathan L Johnson (0000-0002-5046-2276, George Mason University, autor de correspondencia), Amy L Best (0000-0002-9111-178X, George Mason University)
Año2012
Volumen35
Número3
Páginas321-339
Fecha de publicación2012-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSymbolic Interaction (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0195-6086 • E-ISSN: 1533-8665
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/symb.23
OpenAlexW1922845790
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas30
Referencias citadas28

Sociological research has examined straight parents in 'traditional' family arrangements who become gay rights activists, but pays insufficient attention to how this puzzling identity comes into being. Drawn from observations and interviews of parents participating in a local chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) (2009 to 2010), this paper analyzes the parenting activities undertaken by straight parents of gay children as a moral career, involving stages of acceptance that can lead to eventual public advocacy. Paradoxically, these parents become radical normals through these stages; that is to say, they 'do' the work of parenting by becoming gay rights advocates, motivated by commitments to conventional imperatives of loving and supporting a child. Using the conceptual scaffolding of the moral career, this paper identifies the mechanisms that move parents through these different career stages

Aesthetics · Sociology · Child Welfare and Adoption · Gender Studies · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Social Psychology