18% of LGBTQ+ adults are parents — and they're raising over 5 million children

The "traditional" American family isn't so traditional after all, as a significant amount of LGBTQ+ adults are choosing to become parents.

Approximately 5 million children in the United States are being raised by an LGBTQ+ parent, according to a new study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, including 2 million who live in an LGBTQ+ single-parent household and nearly 300,000 who are being raised by parents in same-sex couples.

Roughly 2.57 million LGBTQ+ adults are parenting children under the age of 18 in their households, accounting for 18 percent of queer people in the country. The report found that same-sex couples adopt (21 percent), foster (4 percent), and have stepchildren (17 percent) at "significantly" higher rates than different-sex couples (3 percent, 0.4 percent, and 6 percent, respectively).

“Queer family and community structures are similar to straight cisgender families in many ways, but there are some significant differences,” said study author Lauren J.A. Bouton, research analyst at the Williams Institute. “Many LGBTQ households include adult siblings or other relatives, indicating more diversity in family structure than the expected parental relationship. This could be an economic strategy to pool resources, a more expansive cultural definition of family, or both.”

There are also challenges LGBTQ+ parents face that their straight peers do not — about 30 percent of LGBQ parents are not legally recognized or are unsure about their legal status as the parent/guardian of at least one child, according to the report. LGBTQ+ parents are also more likely to be living in poverty (33 percent) compared to LGBTQ non-parents (21 percent) and straight cisgender parents (21 percent). While married people are less likely to live in poverty in most groups, Black and Latinx LGBTQ+ parents who are partnered or in same-sex couples did not see the same benefits.

Lead author Bianca D.M. Wilson, associate professor at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs, said that "despite positive cultural shifts impacting family structure, LGBTQ parents remain a vulnerable group concerning economic stability, parental rights, and access to pathways to parenting."

“A significant proportion of LGBTQ adults are parents," Wilson said. "Policies that aim to improve the lives of LGBTQ communities should focus on issues LGBTQ parents face, including barriers to accessing alternative reproductive technologies and adoption services as well as LGBTQ parental recognition rights, particularly for non-biological parents in same-sex couples."