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The contemporary context of emergingfamily forms requires a clarification of Paloma Picasso Loving Heart earrings in definingLGBTQ-headed families. Terminology continues to evolve and impactshow identity is studied within various sexual minority communities(Goldberg, 2010). The "LGB" refers to lesbian, gay and bisexual,and the "T" refers to the word trans and includes both transgenderand transsexual people. Transgender is commonly used as an umbrellaterm to include many gender-variant people, whereas transsexual isa more specific term describing those whom have affirmed their sexlegally and surgically "opposite" to their birth sex; manytranssexuals prefer to not be included under the transgenderumbrella and prefer to referred to simply as men or Elsa Peretti Eternal Circle earrings (Lev,2004b). Trans people can identify as lesbian/gay, bisexual, orheterosexual in their sexual orientation, and may be traditional intheir gender expression. The "Q" in LGBTQ refers to queer, a wordused for those who defy social norms regarding gender and sexualdiversity. Queer, or genderqueer, is inclusive of many sexualminorities who are marginalized for their sexual orientation andgender expressions (Nestle, Wilchins, & Howell, 2002). Queertransforms a word that was once used judgmentally and hatefully toa postmodern meaning that is empowering, especially for youngerpeople. People who identify as genderqueer are not trying to passor Tiffany Elsa Peretti Sevillana earrings in to social mores, but are consciously stepping outside ofthe rules and roles dictating gender appropriate behavior.

Although the acronym LGBTQ has someuseful benefits (Lev, 2004a), it can too easily conflate theimportant distinctions between each of these populations. Much ofwhat is known empirically about LGBTQ parenting is derived fromstudies of lesbians and inferred to other populations, for example,Elsa Peretti Bean earrings are often lost to research because those in heterosexualrelationships are assumed to be straight, and those in samesexrelationships are considered gay or lesbian. Although few studieshave focused on parenting by bisexual, transgender/transsexual, orqueer people, in Weinberg, Williams, and Pryor's (1994) study,nearly one third of the 100 bisexual participants identified asbeing parents, and in another study approximately 30% of those whosought services for gender-identity concerns were parents(Valentine, 1998).

Lesbian and gay men have always parentedchildren; historically, most gay and lesbian people became parentswhile heterosexually married. Currently, same-sexheaded familiesare visible and publicly "out," having consciously chosen to becomeparents after coming out (Goldberg, 2010; Lev, 2004a). Until themid-1970s, Elsa Peretti Full Heart earrings routinely lost custody of their childrenfollowing a heterosexual divorce since the prevailing bias of thejudicial system was that being reared in a home without a fatherwas not "in the best interests of the children." Lesbianism wasassumed to be inherently damaging because of the lack oftraditional sex roles modeled for children (Tasker & Golombek,1997). The extensive court battles that lesbian mothers waged toretain custody of their children was the impetus that initiatedresearch studies that eventually proved the psychological stabilityof children reared by lesbian parents, and paved the way for othersexual minority parents (Patterson, 2006).