Despite recent advancements in legislation and policies regarding gay and lesbian Americans, negative attitudes and perceptions toward this population still exist. Anecdotal information from social work classroom interactions suggests that biases against gays and lesbian families may exist among those being trained as helping professionals. This study examined social work student comfort with gay and lesbian families. The researcher used an exploratory-descriptive research design, with a sample of 85 Bachelors level social work students (BSW) and Masters level social work students (MSW) who completed the 52 item online questionnaire related to gay and lesbian parenting. The findings from the research suggest the presence of a statistically significant relationship between students' attitudes towards gays and lesbians and students' comfort level with same sex parents. The researcher discusses the significance of the study and the implications for social work practice and education.

Cultural socialization has been linked with child development and outcome, but, to date, the majority of research has focused on race and ethnicity. However, since families headed by gay and lesbian parents experience stigma related to parental sexual orientation, socialization practices may be uniquely important for families headed by gay and lesbian parents. The present study examined same-sex parent socialization among 54 families headed by gay and lesbian parents (52 fathers, 43 mothers, 51 school-aged children) using a cultural socialization framework. Findings revealed that parents engaged in socialization along three dimensions: Cultural Socialization, Preparation for Bias, and Proactive Parenting. Children perceived same-sex parent socialization with less frequency than parents reported engaging in these behaviors across all dimensions. In general, same-sex parent socialization was not associated with child behavioral adjustment. Neither same-sex parent socialization nor child behavioral adjustment was associated with whether parents were gay or lesbian. Results from this study justify the need to broaden our conceptualization of cultural socialization to be more inclusive of these diverse family structures.

Opinions and attitudes towards homosexually oriented people and their lives have changed significantly in the last twenty years. Homosexuality is not considered as a sexual deviation any more, and more and more European cultures allow formal and legal existence of the same-sex couples. In some states of the European Union gays and lesbians can become parents legally - they are allowed full joint adoption. The objective of the theoretical part of the thesis was to approach the issue of homosexuality and homosexually oriented people within the context of selected states of the European Union. The main objective of the research part of the thesis was to find out the attitude of the wide public towards the institute of registered partnership (civil union or civil partnership) in the Czech Republic. The partial objective was to survey the public attitude towards the adoption of a child by a single homosexual and towards the adoption of a child by a homosexual couple (full joint adoption) in the Czech Republic. I also wanted to find out, whether the Czech public tolerate the adoption of a child of a homosexual partner or the artificial insemination of lesbian couples. Quantitative research, polling method and an anonymous questionnaire {--} a technique of the research - were used in the practical part.