Racialized adolescents of gay adoptive fathers’ relations with peers in school settings

Proceedings of The 3rd International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality

Year: 2023

DOI:

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Racialized adolescents of gay adoptive fathers’ relations with peers in school settings

Gabrielle Comtois and Éric Feugé

ABSTRACT: 

Same-gender couples adopting in Quebec are predominantly white males and the proportion of non-white children in their care is close to one third. How distinctive minorized identities of these adolescents (i.e., having gay fathers, being racialized and adopted) affects their socialization approach is not well known, as this period is marked by the desire to belong to a friend group. The purpose of this study is to explore their feelings to the thought of disclosing their family structure, their potential experiences of microaggressions, and how they addressed them. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 8 adolescents ranged in age from 11 to 16. Thematic analysis revealed that family outing is related to the fear of being stigmatized and being confronted to uneasy questions by peers. Many microaggressions were associated for having gay parents, being adopted and racialized. For instance, use of heterosexist terminology, ignorance regarding homopaternity, stereotype about homosexuality, assumption of bionormativity and racist insults. Some of these seems to have been internalized by a few participants. In addition, various behaviors were put in place by participants to handle microaggressions such as confronting the use of heterosexist terms by peers, hiding family structure, disclosing under certain conditions (i.e., trusting relationship) and selecting friends. The discussion will highlight the relevance of greater visibility of family diversity in school and the importance of continuous efforts to raise awareness around heterosexism, racism and bionormativity in school settings.

keywords: bionormativity, family structure disclosure, heterosexism, microaggressions, racism