From Cradle to Pride: How Straight Parents Forge Relationships with Their Gay Sons

Abstract

Sociological research has unveiled conventional parents that become gay rights activists but pays insufficient attention to how this puzzling identity comes about. The argument presented here is that there are stages to what could be called moral careers of straight parents of gay sons. A first stage encompasses the process of a son coming out to his parents, a second involves parents becoming active in a supportive voluntary association, and a third stage is marked by walking in marches that support their children's cultural identities and political rights. Paradoxically, these parents become normal radicals through these stages; that is to say, committed to conventional imperatives of loving and supporting a child, they do parenting by becoming gay rights advocates.