Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Inside the gay baby boom

America's got a bad case of gayby fever. In the past few years, we've been subjected to countless trend pieces about the growth of gay parenting and its remaking of the American family. Censuses have shown a dramatic increase in the number of gays and lesbians living with children, and, most recently, high-profile gay celebrities, like Ricky Martin and Clay Aiken, have adopted children of their own. Of course, gay parents have been around as long as there have been gay people, but their recent prominence (see: the upcoming "The Kids Are All Right," the "gayby" neologism, "Modern Family") suggests that a new cultural moment is afoot. Amie Klempnauer Miller's delightful new memoir, "She Looks Just Like You," offers an engrossing, funny and eminently readable new take on the subject of gay parenthood. The book tells the story of how Miller and her long-term partner, Jane, came to the decision to become pregnant (having the "lesbian love of process" they went on a retreat to discuss the subject), their failed attempts at insemination (after Amie proved unable to get pregnant, Jane carried the child) and the stress of their daughter's early years. Along the way Miller plumbs the meaning of her strange new identity -- non-biological lesbian mother -- and the ways it challenges our conventional ideas about motherhood, fatherhood and the American family. More on reading Salon

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