Queer Families Still Struggle to Access Leave
“Despite the broadening conversation around parental leave and employee rights, low-income LGBTQ parents and workers are still largely left out. This may be due in part to the perception that stories like Kristyn and Whitney’s are uncommon. They’re not. The Williams Institute estimates that more than 111,000 same-sex couples are raising children in the U.S., which doesn’t account for LGBTQ-identified single parents or straight transgender parents. On top of that, Pew Research Center data point to an increase in recent years in the number of blended and non-nuclear families, two models especially common among LGBTQ families living at or below the poverty line. Low-income LGBTQ parents are not only a growing population, they’re also some of the most in need of parental and family leave—and still the least served by current policies.”