Gender and orientation diversity in the family courts: A guide to terms and present issues

• Published date: 01 July 2024
• Author: Nathaniel Currie,Sherri Simmons‐Horton,Jack Burke,Rebecca Farley,Aydin Olson‐Kennedy
• Date: 01 July 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12810

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Gender and orientation diversity in the family

courts: A guide to terms and present issues

Nathaniel Currie

1

| Sherri Simmons-Horton

2

| Jack Burke

3

|

Rebecca Farley

4

| Aydin Olson-Kennedy

5

1

Clark Atlanta University Whitney M. Young Jr. School of Social Work, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

2

University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA

3

William James College, Newton, Massachusetts, USA

4

Norman Regional Health System, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

5

California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, California, USA

Correspondence

Nathaniel Currie, Clark Atlanta University

Whitney M. Young Jr. School of Social Work,

Atlanta, GA, USA.

Email: ncurrie@cau.edu

Abstract

Family court systems sort, explore, and resolve many youth,

couple, family, and community concerns and issues. Recog-

nizing the vast diversity of all people, and thus the vast

diversity of the concept of family, this article defines and

discusses many of the ideas central to diversity, identity,

and family. This resource can assist family court profes-

sionals in interpreting and applying LGBTQ+family court

research, helping to create a more robust awareness and

ability to empower those who utilize family court and family

support systems.

KEYWORDS

allyship, community empowerment, equity, family law, gender

diversity, gender studies, interdisciplinary approach,

intersectionality, orientation diversity, queer studies, transgender,

youth

Key points for the family court community

•Inclusion of gender and orientation diverse families

begins with education of these communities, fostering

allyship, and includes social, legal, and systemic recogni-

tion, access, and equity.

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12810

© 2024 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

Family Court Rev. 2024;62:615–634. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre 615

•Family court systems play a pivotal role in the strength-

ening and empowerment of gender and orientation

diverse families and communities.

•An intersectional lens in examining the complex needs,

narratives, and experiences of oppression is largely bene-

ficial to gender and orientation diverse families who seek

and depend on family law services and guidance.

INTRODUCTION

Family court is often the primer or host environment for clinical social workers, psychologists, and other helping pro-

fessionals to provide expert opinions and insights that assist legal professionals in important decision-making that

has a major impact on individuals, families, and their communities. Decision-making in court proceedings, including

child custody, child safety, intimate partner violence, other domestic matters, and relationship termination (divorce,

separation, annulment, etc.) deserve the consideration of cultural, subcultural, environmental, social justice, and self-

determination factors. Licensed clinical social workers and licensed psychologists, with their highly-specialized

evidence-based training, are well-positioned to inform and guide decision-making in family court, where the afore-

mentioned factors are deeply present. Clinical social workers and other licensed helping professionals offer the abil-

ity to interpret and translate insight and guidance from an empirical and exercised vantage point, with the intent to

alleviate or minimize the potential harm and maximize the potential benefit of family court proceeding outcomes.

This could not be any truer or more relevant than in the consideration of gender diversity and orientation diversity

issues within families that seek or need family court assistance and intervention.

In many jurisdictions, legal teams and judges have inadvertently disadvantaged transgender, non-binary, gay, les-

bian, and queer youth, parents, and caregivers. They have often missed the opportunity to utilize empirical peer-

reviewed research that shows gay, lesbian, and queer individuals are effective and loving parents and their children

are typically as well-adjusted as their peers raised by heterosexual parents in comparison. Maitner (2019) detailed

significant bias against lesbian, gay, or queer parents in custody hearings where one parent identified as lesbian, gay,

or queer and the other parent as heterosexual. In recent family court proceedings decision makers have found a lack

of clinically and empirically informed guidance related to legal practice in protecting the safety and wellbeing of

transgender and non-binary children in foster care and adoption placements, school placements, therapeutic referral,

and other protective placement decisions. To address these and other relevant deficits, we have written this thor-

ough introductory piece offering guidance and insights that will be highly valuable when working with gender- and

orientation-diverse children, individuals, and families in the family court environment.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

Allyship is the practice of individuals within advantaged/dominant groups providing support to members of under-

represented or marginalized populations in efforts to promote rights, representation, and inclusion (Ayyala &

Coley, 2022; Melaku et al., 2021). Allyship is not a one-time action but a lifelong process of growing awareness,

developing critical accountability for actions, building trust and relationships with members of the marginalized com-

munity, and using power and privilege to advocate for equal rights (Ayyala & Coley, 2022).

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