A Coming Out Guide for
Gaydads
By Richard Jasper (who is one and
who's done it)
Last Content Update: May 2002
[9/24/07: Now that this page is in its new location, I will work on updating its many broken links. -- rpj]
When I finally realized, back in the
late spring of 1993, that I really had to come out to my wife and young
children, e-mail was my lifeline to the world. Since that time I have e-mailed
and met and spoken to dozens of men who have been or who are in the same
situation I was in then.
This guide is designed first
and foremost to be a resource for any married gaydad who is contemplating coming
out or who is in the process of doing so. It includes a rather detailed
description
(My Story)
of what led me to marry and what prompted me to come out; a list of
resources(paper, electronic, and in real life) that I have found useful in my
journey; and a list of
Frequently Asked
Questions
--asked of me, that is! More generally, I hope that the
resources contained herein will be useful for any gaydad, gay stepdad, or gaydad
wannabe, regardless of whether they have been married, regardless of whether
they are in or out of the closet. The latest addition to these pages,
Coming Out to Kids
, is reprinted from one
of the few scholarly sources available on the subject of gaydads and their
children.
On the other hand, this guide does NOT
include information about lesbian parenting, which tends to have a vastly
different set of issues (chief among them artificial insemination and adoption).
For information on lesbian parenting, take a look at Debbie Ranard's
Lesbian Moms page.
I hope you will find this guide useful.
Please feel free to give me your feedback at any time by sending e-mail to
richard@rpjasper.org.
Resources for Gaydads
Since creating this page in late 1995, I have run across a number of
sources, both in print and online, that I have found very useful in the process
of coming out as a gay man who happens to be married and a parent. The following
list is by no means comprehensive, so if you have additions, please feel free to
send me
e-mail with your suggestions. I will be
happy to add them to this page, along with the name of the person who has
recommended it.
My list includes:
- Books
Happily, almost all of these are in
print. For each I've added an Amazon.com link and where possible an image of
the book cover.
-
Gay Fathers by Robert L.
Barret and Bryan E. Robinson. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1990.
- A new updated edition for 2000. One of the few book length, scholarly works
on the topic. Barret and Robinson have aimed this work at mental health professionals
more so than gay fathers themselves. Still, it's easy to read and covers the
waterfront in terms of issues that gay fathers coming out of the closet will
likely confront.
Gay Theology without Apology by Gary David Comstock
- I include this title for married gay men for whom religious questions, specifically
those pertaining to Christianity, may come into play. Although it doesn't
address the question of gay men who marry and father children, it provides
some useful insights regarding the Bible and Christian theology--which can
be quite useful when dealing with the religious concerns of family members
and friends.
Is It a Choice? by Eric
Marcus.
- This book is a great one to give to friends and family members who suffer
from the usual misconceptions about what it means to be gay. Marcus' journalistic,
anecdotal approach, tackling more than 300 commonly asked questions and providing
succinct, no-nonsense answers, is as easy to read as it is enlightening. If
you're like me, you'll find yourself saying "I didn't know that!"
on more than one occasion.
The Male Couple's Guide
by Eric Marcus.
- Most of us who are or who have been married are "relationship"
people. Chances are extremely good that having been in a relationship with
a woman, once out of the closet and no longer married we are likely to someday
find ourselves in a relationship with a man. Things are very much the same--and
very different. Marcus does a great job of clearly and concisely discussing
the issues facing same sex male couples. I found his chapter on monogamy and
nonmonogamy particularly useful.
The Other Side of the Closet by Amity Pierce Buxton.
- THE BOOK for opposite sex straight/gay couples. If you look at no other
book on this page, promise me you'll look at this one! In the late 1970s Buxton's
husband came out to her as a gay man after more than 20 years of marriage.
She was appalled to find that there was NO support system in place for spouses
of gays and lesbians where she was living--which was the San Francisco Bay
Area! Buxton started her own support group--and in the process became a leading
expert in how our coming out affects the ones we love most, our spouses and
children.
Uncharted Lives : Understanding the Life Passages of Gay Men by Stanley Siegel and Ed Lowe, Jr. (New
York: Dutton, 1994.)
- A suggestion from Walter Gallant. Not one I've read (yet!) but I'm looking
for it.
- Uncommon Lives :
Gay Men and Straight Women by Catherine
Whitney. (New York: New American Library, 1990.)
- A suggestion from Max, not one I've read. Looks at spouses who stay together
after one member comes out as gay. This title is out of print so you may have a hard time finding it.
What the Bible Really Says about Homosexuality by Father David Helminiak.
- Another excellent book looking at issues of homosexuality and Christianity.
When Husbands Come Out of the Closet by Jean Schaar Gochros (New York: Haworth Press, 1989.)
- Ditto, another suggestion from Max.
- Search for other gay parenting books
-
- Online Resources
Please keep in mind:
Websites get taken down. They get
moved. They are NOT permanent. And the addresses that once pointed to one page
often get taken over by a new webpage. There are a lot of unscrupulous people
in the world and purveyors of porn, unfortunately, tend to be among them. They
often take over the URLS of defunct websites as a way of boosting their
traffic. That's perhaps especially true for URLs of defunt websites that had
gay content -- I think they (the purveyors of porn) must assume that anyone
who is looking for a website with gay content automatically must be looking
for porn.
It isn't true, of course.
Unfortunately, I don't have the time to police all the links on this page with
any degree of regularity -- a couple of times a year is the best I can do. If
a link on this page no longer points to the site named, please send me
e-mail letting me know about it. And
kindly refrain from blaming me for the fact that a once legitimate link now
points to a site you don't want to see.
- Bi Married Men of America
(BMMA)
- Maintained by Tony Smallwood of
Milan, Mich., it's the companion to the e-mail group of the same name
(subscription information included on the BMMA homepage). A bit more oriented
toward gay and bisexual men who elect to remain married to their opposite sex
partners.
- The Boston Gay & Bisexual Married
Men's Support Group
- Provides background information on
the group, which is largely (but not exclusively) oriented toward gay/bi men
intent on preserving their opposite sex marriages. Also serves (I think!) as a
good primer on how to start and maintain a support group of this nature!
- Gay/Bi Married Men and
Fathers
- As husbands and fathers, we have a
lot going on in our lives. Add to that an attraction to other guys, and the
isolation that can cause, and your life becomes very complicated. We have
special concerns as married men and dads, and this group is the place to air
them and share them.
- The Gaydad
- Useful site (lots of overlap with
this one!) maintained by a gaydad in Washington state.
- The Gaydads Homepage
- This site, www.gaydads.com,
originally had a great deal of overlap with this one. It's now gone and the
URL has been taken over by a sex site registered to a company in Finland.
NEW SIGN-UP INFORMATION
- The Gaydads List
-
Not a book, of course, but a listserv
for gay men who are or who want to be fathers. Founded by Dorsie Hathaway, a
lesbian mom in Portland, Oregon, it is now wrangled Terry Furman, who took it
over from me. With more than 200 subscribers, all of them gaydads, gay
stepdads, or gaydad wannabes, it is one of the best online support systems out
there.
Information on how to the join the listserv (it's free) can
be found at the Gaydads Info Page. Please let
me know if you have any trouble getting signed on.
- Gaydads on the Internet
This resource, which I first put
together back in late 1995, is another resource now maintained by Terry. It
lists hundreds of gaydads, gay stepdads and gaydad wannabes, along with their
e-mail addresses, webpages, and geographic locations, who are out and proud on
the internet.
- Gay Fathers Coalition, Baltimore,
Md.
- Webpage for the Baltimore group.
- Gay Fathers Coalition, Washington,
D.C.
- Webpage for the D.C. group.
Gay Fathers of Greater Boston
(GFGB)
- Gay Fathers of Greater Boston
(GFGB)
- A support group for gay/bisexual
fathers, gay/bisexual men in child nurturing roles and their partners. Offers
support in dealing with issues of parenting, sexuality, coming out and other
issues relevant to our membership. See web site for upcoming schedule and
events.
- Gay Fathers of Rhodes Island
- Formerly Gay Fathers of Rochester, this site is maintained by Tom Fronczak, a social
worker who used to live in Rochester, NY, and now lives in Rhode Island.
- Gay Parenting
- Reprint of an article by Thomas
Fronczak and Vicki Jo Campanaro-Cummings, therapist/counselors who work with
GLB parents and their straight current and former spouses in the Rochester,
New York, area. Good overview of the topic, plus pointers to other resources.
- The KidsOfGays List
- For people of all ages who have
lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered parents. LGBT parents can participate
in the list only if they, too, have an LGBT parent.
To subscribe to the list, send email
to majordomo@vector.casti.com and write in
the body of the message (not the subject):
subscribe kidsofgays yourfirstname yourlastname
The brackets are important. For
example: Janice Doe would send email to majordomo@vector.casti.com with the
info:
subscribe kidsofgays Janice Doe
- Spouse Support Mailing List
- The following information is quoted from the original announcement for
this list:
The
Spouse Support Mailing List (SSML) is an Internet mailing list in both
standard and digest formats for straight spouses and their bisexual, gay, or
lesbian partners who are trying to keep their marriages intact and for keeping
the relationship positive for those couples who are separating and divorcing.
Membership is moderated and confidential. The digest is a collection of all of
the mail in one day and goes out once each morning at midnight central time
unless the volume causes a second digest to go out during the day. In the
standard form of the list, the letters go out when they are approved.
To subscribe, send email to
majordomo@texsys.com and in the body of the message, put
subscribe spouse-support
or
subscribe spouse-support-digest
- Straight Spouse Network
- This really excellent site has moved. It's previous URL has been taken over by a truly obnoxious sex site. As soon as I find the new URL, I'll post it. A joint project of GLPCI and PFLAG, the Straight Spouse
Support Network consists of straight women and men, formerly or currently
married to gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered partners, "who put
spouses in touch with one another and provide resource information to help
them understand and cope constructively with" the many issues that come
up when husbands or wives come out. SSSNis chaired by Dr. Amity Pierce Buxton (e-mail:
khgt90a@prodigy.com),
internationally known author of The Other Side of the Closet.
- Real Life
Support Groups
- Gay Fathers of Atlanta
- A support group for gay men who have children. Most members either are or
have been married to a straight spouse at some point; a few members are seeking
to adopt children or have children by lesbian friends. Affiliated with Gay/Lesbian
Parents Coalition International (GLPCI). Meets twice monthly, the 2nd and 4th
Wednesdays of each month. The first meeting takes place at the Atlanta-Fulton
Public Library branch on Ponce de Leon Avenue; the second meeting occurs at
the Atlanta Lambda Center on Monroe Drive in Midtown. For more information,
call 404-342-6451.
- Gay Fathers Coalition of Richmond
-
First organized in 1997, GFC Richmond
meets the first Thursday of each month from 7-9 p.m. at the Fan Free Clinic,
1010 N. Thompson Street, Richmond, Va. For more information, contact Gil
Caldwell via e-mail,
GFCRichmond@hotmail.com, or telephone,
804-330-4090.
- Gay Fathers of London, Ontario
- A support group for gay men who have
previously been (or are) married. Most have children, some do not. We meet on
the first Tuesday of the month, either at the Options Lounge at HALO Homophile
Association of London Ontario) or at a members home. E-mail Bryan Gloyd
(bgloyd@odyssey.on.ca) for information
or the location of the next meeting agenda. We plan social activities
together, explore gay-related issues through guest speakers or spend our
meeting time helping and learning from each other. Confidential and
supportive, we don't want anyone in southwestern Ontario to come-out alone.
Gay Fathers of North Bay and
Area
- Homepage of gaydads group in
Northwestern Ontario!
- Gay/Lesbian Parents Coalition
International (GLPCI)
- As with the Spouse Support Network,
the GLPCI page appears to have moved. The URL has been taken over by another
the same web parasite that now has SSN's old URL. GLPCI's annual U.S.
conference draws several hundred gay men and lesbians and their children.
- COLAGE (Children of Lesbians and Gays
Everywhere)
- An offshoot of GLPCI--organized by sons and daughters of its
members, in fact--this group seeks to serve the needs of young people whose
parents are gay or lesbian.
- Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
- Pioneering organization with chapters in nearly every city in North America.
The Atlanta chapter's number is 404-662-6475.
If
you would like to have your group listed here, please send me
e-mail. Likewise, if there are other
resources that you think should be included, please let me know.
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page