Lesbian and Gay Parenting: Strategies of Normalization in Spain

This paper assesses expert discourse within the social and political debate on lesbian and gay parenting. In particular, we analyze the discursive strategies used by the defenders of lesbian and gay parenting, and their impact on the process of the social construction of this new family setting. We examine the discourse of experts invited to a special session of the Spanish Senate addressing changes to the Spanish Civil Code related to the possible regulation of same-sex marriage. Discourse analysis is used for this purpose, specifically the identification of interpretative repertoires in the construction and defense of alternative parenthood. The study identifies three main interpretative repertoires in the analyzed material: lesbian and gay parenthood is “not different”; “the question of rights,” that is, balancing potential tension between the rights of same-sex parents and children; and “desexualization” as a normalizing strategy. These repertoires are evaluated in relation to existing tension between the assimilationist–normalization approach and other frameworks that reject heterocentric solutions. The possibility of establishing an alternative research agenda is discussed.