Complexities of Informal Social Support Arrangements for Black Lesbian Couples

This qualitative study examined how Black lesbian couples receive informal social support from their social networks. Guided by an inte- grated framework of symbolic interactionism and Black feminist theory, interviews were conducted with 11 Black lesbian couples (22 individuals) in committed relationships. Using grounded theory methodology, it was found that Black lesbian couples received informal social support from different sources, but that this support was provided to individuals as a means of sustaining individuals' roles as daughters and mothers. Although extended families actively fulfilled perceived family obligations, they negated the existence of lesbian individuals' sexual identity, intimate relationships, and families built with lesbian partners. Friends, church communities, and gay and lesbian communities did not validate Black lesbian couplehood or families headed by Black lesbian couples, but served as supportive sites for individuals. Black lesbian couples responded to social invisibility by engaging in self-validating processes and limiting access to their families.Key Words: African Americans, feminism, lesbians, lesbian slepfamilies, social support.According to the current literature, informal social support networks serve a vital role for heterosexual couples and families as providers of tangible (e.g., financial, educational, legal) and intangible (e.g., emotional and psychological) resources that contribute to family stability (Ellison, Berdette, & Wilcox, 2010; McMillan & Chavis, 1986). Research draws a different picture of informal social support for gay and lesbian couples and families whose primar)' source of social support comes from gay and lesbian communities (Goldberg, 2010; LaSala, 2002; Patterson, 2000). Understanding how social supports are utilized by lesbian couples is increasingly important to human services fields because of the documented increase in same-sex couples with children. In 2010, the Williams Institute (2011) determined at least a 300% increase in the number of self-reporting female-headed same-sex households since 1990. It is also estimated that the proportion of Black female - headed same-sex families with children was higher than White female-headed samesex families. The visibility of complex family structures resulting from lesbian unions has inspired some social scientists to study lesbian families; however, research participants have primarily been White middle-class lesbians and their families (Biblarz & Savci, 2010; Goldberg, 2010; Greene, 1993; LaSala, 2002; Patterson, 2000).The lack of empirical studies examining Black lesbian family life across disciplines may reflect heterosexist conventional discourses on the meaning of family (Moore, 2011). To challenge traditional notions of families, racial/ethnic and gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (GLBTQ) scholars have conducted revisionist family science with critical race, feminist, and queer lenses (Allen. 2000; Moore, 2011). In the past 15 years, social scientists have examined Black lesbian family life and Black lesbian couples' relationships with extended family members (Greene, 2000; Mays, Chatters, Cochran, & Mackness, 1998; Miller, 2011; Miller & Parker, 2009; Moore, 2011). We credit Moore's (2011) work for increasing the visibility of Black lesbian families through her examination of gender performance, couple dynamics, and sexual orientation identity. Moore highlighted the frequently "hidden" and unaffirmed Black lesbian family within Black extended families, Black churches, Black communities, and LGBTQ communities. This study builds on Moore's findings by investigating the nature of informal social support, the neglect of the couple relationship by identified social supports, and the couples' self-care and boundary creation that result from these interactions.The purpose of this study is to enhance our understanding of how Black lesbian couples and families receive informal social support from family and community networks given the unique challenge of the intersection of race, gender, and sexual orientation (Shields, 2008). …