Hidden Branches and Growing Pains:

In reviewing the effects of having a gay or lesbian member in the family of origin, one is repeatedly drawn to the central role played by the social stigma surrounding homosexuality. The resent paper suggests that social stereotypes and prejudices toward homosexuals create an image of homosexuality as incompatible with the family, and that the family's reactions having a homosexual member depend upon their acceptance or rejection of these prejudices. When homosexual family members are discovered, heterosexual family members experience a conflict between their conceptions of homosexual persons and the familiar family role of the homosexual member. The origin and nature of this conflict, and differences among family members in their reactions are reviewed. Long-term resolution and possible models of positive and negative outcome are also described. It is suggested that the conflict experienced by family members is in many ways similar to the "coming out" process of homosexual identity acquisition, and that this similarity may reflect common mechanisms for coming to grips with a pejorative, negatively labeled social identity.