Display Work: Lesbian Parent Couples and Their Families of Origin Negotiating New Kin Relationships

Abstract

This chapter draws upon data from a qualitative study of the family lives of same-sex (female) couples in England who had their first and subsequent children in the context of their current relationship. I examine respondents’ accounts about how they negotiate coming out as lesbian parents within their family of origin, and their perspectives on how their families of origin ‘come out’ (or not) within their own social networks in order to claim new kin relationships with the lesbian parent family. These new forms of ‘coming out’ resonate with Finch’s (2007) notion of ‘displaying families’—in which narratives around coming out as lesbian parents display meanings of family and contribute to ways in which these meanings are conveyed, recognised and understood as ‘family-like’ relationships.