10 There are myriad reasons why the LGBTQ community is more likely to seek chosen family. In the same CAP survey, LGBTQ individuals, as well as individuals with disabilities, were more likely to report caring for chosen family than were their nondisabled or non-LGBTQ counterparts-42 percent compared with 30 percent and 31 percent, respectively. The LGBTQ community can be particularly affected by narrow and/or noninclusive legal definitions of family. In fact, a nationally representative survey fielded by the Center for American Progress in 2017 found that nearly a third of all respondents reported taking time off work to care for a friend or chosen family member. 9įederal law should embrace this reality because failing to fully recognize that chosen families exist causes real harm-harm ranging from the insult of not being recognized to not being included in or covered by certain benefits or programs. 7 These kinds of family members, often referred to as “chosen family,” are otherwise unrelated loved ones with whom one “develop a deep and significant personal bond akin to the bond that often exists between family members related by blood or legal ties, such as marriage or adoption.” 8 The same Minnesota study found that respondents relied more on “functional” characteristics than “structural” characteristics when asked to define family. One study of LGBTQ people in Minnesota found that 66 percent of respondents considered friends-including roommates, co-workers, and children of friends-as part of their family.
The very definition of family is changing.
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