Conventional and Cutting-Edge: Definitions of Family in LGBT Communities

This paper uses data from a study of 105 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people to examine conceptions of family in LGBT communities. Respondents were asked how they would define “family” and whom they consider to be their current family. The study sought to determine whether constructionist definitions of family (“families of choice”) remain dominant among LGBT people. Earlier research had clearly established the importance of friends as chosen family in this population, but a growing emphasis on same-sex marriage and increased gay and lesbian parenting might be expected to cause some LGBT people to shift toward more traditional definitions of family. Results show that constructionist definitions remain prominent in abstract conceptions of family, but also that LGBT people frequently define biological and legal relatives as members of their current family, and few define their current family as only consisting of chosen family. The notion of families of choice continues to resonate, but chosen family members mostly complement rather than replace other kinds of family in definitions of one’s current family.

本研究关注LGBT群体如何定义家庭，并探讨他们如何在社会背景和身份交织的影响下理解和构建家庭。研究通过回应以下问题：LGBT群体如何抽象地定义“家庭”？他们认同哪些人作为自己家庭的一员？这些家庭观念如何根据不同的社会位置有所变化？

本研究采用了定性研究方法，旨在探索LGBT群体对亲密关系及家庭概念的理解。通过深入的半结构化个人访谈和焦点小组讨论，研究收集了LGBT受访者对“家庭”这一抽象概念的定义以及他们对“家庭”成员的具体认定。研究样本包含了105名LGBT受访者，来自明尼阿波利斯-圣保罗大都市区及周边地区，特别注重包括双性恋、跨性别者、少数族裔、工薪阶层和生活在小城市及农村地区的人群。数据分析采用了扎根理论的策略，从开放编码到集中的编码过程，深入分析了受访者对家庭的抽象定义及其具体家庭成员的认定。最终，通过归纳性分析，提炼出关于家庭的结构性与功能性特征，以及“选择性家庭”在LGBT群体中的表现。

本研究的发现表明，LGBT群体在定义家庭时，”选择性家庭“这一概念依然具有重要意义，大多数受访者将选择性家庭成员视为自己当前家庭的一部分，并且这些成员在受访者的生活中常常比生物法定亲属更为重要。尽管社会对LGBT群体的接受度日益提高，但选择性家庭的内涵正在发生微妙的变化，尤其是在对生物法定亲属的依赖减少的情况下。此外，大多数受访者在抽象定义家庭时，强调功能性特征（如爱、承诺、关怀）而非结构性特征（如生物或法律关系）。研究还发现，LGBT群体的家庭定义在某些方面较为传统，如很多人仍包括生物法定亲属在内。社会位置也影响家庭定义，特定群体（如跨性别者、单身者）更倾向于将选择性家庭纳入自己的家庭定义。研究表明，LGBT群体的家庭定义既创新又传统，反映了社会对家庭形式逐渐包容的趋势。