Re:

> Same-sex parents
> The heading Gay parents already exists in LCSH, so
> the proposed UF Gay parents is in direct conflict with that heading. The
> meeting decided to change the existing heading Gay parents to Same-sex
> parents. The proposal was not approved.

> It seems that there are actually two different topics that the phrases
> "Same-sex parents" and "Gay parents" would be dealing with. And there is
> not necessarily a one-to-one correspondence between those topics and the
> phrases.
>

I agree completely with Kevin Randall that the terms Same-sex parents and
Gay parents are not equivalent. A child with a lesbian mom and a straight
dad who are still married does not have same-sex parents, but does have a
gay parent. If the lesbian mom and straight dad have now divorced and the
mom now has a female spouse, the child now has same-sex parents. A child
with a lesbian mom and a gay dad who are still married or who have
divorced but are both single also has gay parents but not same-sex
parents.

If the heading Gay parents does get changed to Same-sex parents, the
heading Children of gay parents will also need to be revised presumably to
Children of same-sex parents. As discussed above, and to use a different
example, a child of a straight woman who has remarried and has a new
husband, and of a gay dad who is single, is a child of a gay parent, but
not a child of same-sex parents (except that the child has a mom and a dad
AND a step-dad, so there are indeed same-sex parents involved but that's
not the intended meaning of the phrase).

Adam Schiff

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