Abstract

Assisted reproduction techniques are now enabling people, including gay men and lesbian women, to form new family configurations (for instance, donor conception families, surrogacy families, embryo donation families, egg donation families), which were once thought to be unthinkable and «inconceivable». Alongside, «children need male and female figures» is the main objection against the desire of gay men and lesbian women to become parents and build their own family. After presenting research findings on psychological and social well-being of children with gay fathers and lesbian mothers, the authors explore the Oedipal myth: what will be the impact of same-sex parenting on children's gender identifications? At a psychic, legal, historical, and symbolic level, it is to deal with a concept of parenting that is not just reducible to sex roles. Clinical and theoretical implications will be inevitably discussed and will further help in erasing (mis)conceptions regarding same-sex parenting.