„DET KRÆVER NU ENGANG EN MAND OG EN KVINDE“: Køn, seksualitet og slægtskab i den politiske debat om homoseksuelles forældreegnethed

Resumé

In Denmark same sex parenthood is a highly controversial topic. Taking this controversy

as a point of departure the article discusses kinship as a negotiated and politicised

field. While homosexual men are increasingly becoming fathers and parents, their

fatherhood is still surrounded with silence in political debates, which focus mainly on

lesbian motherhood. By exploring how notions of kinship, gender and sexuality are

intersected in the political debates regarding homosexuals’ access to parenthood, the

article explores this apparent invisibility of homosexual fathers. The political debates

provide a window on the contemporary negotiation of kinship ties and obligations, and

touch upon the boundaries of “the family”. The article concludes that the silence

surrounding homosexual fathers is a question of both their (homo)sexuality and their

gender. Both homosexual men and women have difficulties in access to parenthood

and are excluded from the definition of family contained in Danish law, because they

cannot uphold the notion of kinship as symbolized by heterosexual intercourse. In

addition the wishes of fatherhood held by gay men are – because of their being men –

ignored since parenthood in a Danish context still is synonymous with motherhood.