Child's Play

Family and Sexual Orientation

There are all sorts of families and all sorts of relationships. A child's parents could be two fathers, two mothers, a single parent, grandparents, adoptive parents or foster carers, yet still it is mainly
only the 'traditional' family that is represented in books.

Children raised by parents who are gay or lesbian need to see their families acknowledged in the books they read. Other children also need
to see positive images to challenge the stereotypical views that can be inadvertently passed on and expand the boundaries of what they think
is possible and acceptable.

Although Child's Play doesn't explicitly focus on 'non-traditional' families, we aim to represent a range of family set-ups, whether they are the
main characters, a family in the background, or even reflected in
a child's drawing.

Fuller and more realistic representation of the diversity of human relationships in children's literature helps to tackle homophobia
and challenge the culture of homophobic bullying that affects
so many children and young people.

COLAGE
COLAGE is a national movement of children, youth, and adults with one or more lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer (LGBTQ) parent/s. They build community and work toward social justice through youth empowerment, leadership development, education, and advocacy.

Family Equality Council
The Family Equality Council works at all levels of government to advance full social and legal equality on behalf of the approximately one million lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families raising two million children.