Doing “Real Family Values”: The Interpretive Practice of Families in the GLBT Movement

Abstract

This article considers how a social movement group in the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) movement engages in discursive contention with the Religious Right over the meaning of traditional family values. By utilizing an understanding of framing as interpretive practice, we return to a more active conceptualization of framing and illustrate how the meaning making of PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), though bound by the dominant discourse of traditional family values, appropriates this discourse by doing "real family values." We close by considering how PFLAG's interpretive practice subverts and reproduces hegemonic meaning and by noting how our understandings of movement framing are extended by analyses of interpretive practice.

From Sodomy to Sympathy: LDS Elites’ Discursive Construction of Homosexuality Over Time

“…Whereas previous studies have shown that religious (Erzen ) and LGBTQ (Broad et al. ) movements may be forced to shift their tactics in relation to broader societal changes, they have generally left the ways larger social patterns influence dominant religious discourses unexplored (but see Thomas and Olson ). LDS elites, however, constructed homosexuality in relation to shifting societal, religious, and LGBTQ attitudes.…”

“…2010) and sources of moral authority utilized by evangelical elites in Christianity Today (Thomas and Olson ) have indeed shifted in relation to the expansion of LGBTQ rights, that public attitudes about homosexuality have undergone relatively similar shifts (Loftus ), and that LGBTQ movement organizations, like Parents, Friends, and Families of Lesbians and Gays, have adopted similar family values discourses to advocate for sexual equality (Broad et al. ).…”

Identity Dilemmas: Toward a More Situated Understanding

“…Sumerau and Schrock () discuss LGBTQ Christians who “queered fashion,” “embraced intimacy,” and “transgendered demeanor” in order to navigate conflicts between sexuality and religion. According to Broad, Crawley, and Foley (), parents of LGBTQ children use the discourse of “ real family values” to collectively frame themselves as good parents and parents of children who threaten others' notions of what constitutes acceptable family and sexuality.…”

Advice When Children Come Out: The Cultural “Tool Kits” of Parents

“…Despite its stated mission to work on policy, advocacy and education, researchers frequently describe PFLAG as mainly adopting a support group model (Broad, Crawley, & Foley, 2004; Fields, 2001). PFLAG uses parents’ personal testimonies and the support group model to foster its social movement goals of civil rights for sexual minorities (Broad et al, 2004; Fields, 2001). Importantly, although PFLAG has strong ties to the gay and lesbian rights movement, its primary focus has never been one of arguing for sexual rights.…”

“…Importantly, although PFLAG has strong ties to the gay and lesbian rights movement, its primary focus has never been one of arguing for sexual rights. Its discursive terrain has always been “of and about families and religious values” (Broad et al, 2004, p. 513). PFLAG offers parents the possibility of making their children (and themselves) into “normal queers” and normal families with family values (Broad et al, 2004; Fields, 2001).…”