THE COMPLETE LESBIAN AND GAY PARENTING GUIDE
by Arlene Istar Lev, LCSW, CASAC Click here to visit BookSense.com
"Finally a handbook for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender parents that addresses the real struggles and joys our families face.  The Complete Lesbian and Gay Parenting Guide is both deeply serious, and belly-laugh funny, while remaining filled with useful advice and heartwarming personal stories."	-Rosie O'Donnell
THE COMPLETE LESBIAN AND GAY PARENTING GUIDE (Berkley Trade Paperback Original; November 2004), by Arlene Istar Lev, LCSW, CASAC, is a comprehensive look at parenting within for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender- headed families. Arlene Lev has written a ground-breaking handbook on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender parenting that moves beyond proving that we have a right to parent and examines the day-to-day realities of life with children. Lev, a family therapist with twenty years experience working with alternative families, describes the emerging diversity of LGBT families, options for becoming parents, single parenting, coming-out, and infertility, as well as humorously addressing issues such as coping with colic and finding time for adult intimacy. Filled with the personal stories of diverse LGBT parents, Lev – a fierce advocate for our families -- challenges us to create secure and healthy environments for our children despite outside homophobia. Now, for the first time in print, with practical advice and a raw honesty, The Complete Lesbian and Gay Parenting Guide is a must-read for all LGBT people -- those with kids, those who want kids, and those who have watched your friends sucked into the vortex of parenting.
"Lev has created a guide that is up to the minute, inclusive, comprehensive, warm, funny and downright essential for anyone involved with or interested in LGBT parenting."	—April Martin, author The Lesbian and Gay Parenting Handbook
- Terry Boggis, Director, Center Kids the family program of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, New York	"Arlene Istar Lev brings the now generation-old phenomenon of LGBT parenting fully up-to-date.  It's an ideal, complete reference resource for queer people pursuing parenthood, or those already raising kids.  It's inclusive, it's smart, it's accessible, and it doesn't shy away from the hard material.  Everything LGBT parents and parents-to-be need to know about issues unique to our families – it's all there."
"Comprehensive, inclusive, intelligent and engaging, The Complete Lesbian & Gay Parenting Guide is must-read for LGBT parents, prospective parents, and their extended family members. Lev packs a lot of information and wisdom into these pages, and her warmth and humor make this book a pleasure to read."	—Laura Markowitz Editor, In the Family: The Magazine for Queer People and Their Loved Ones
--Jamison Green, author of "Becoming a Visible Man" (Vanderbilt University Press, 2004)	"Parenting is a real-time activity, and a challenge for anyone who takes it seriously. Lev makes bold statements about real people in real-time situations. The humanity inherent in loving and raising children is not something reserved for a privileged few, but IS experienced by LGBT people. In a time of increasing conservative, religious right angst over who should be allowed to be human and what information and choices we all should be entitled to have about our own lives, this book provides a look at aspects of parenting that we can't always know about in advance. And it is a testament to the ongoing power of parental love."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Arlene Istar Lev is a family therapist, educator, writer, and activist, who specializes in working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families.  She is the Founder and Director of Choices Counseling and Consulting, in Albany, New York and is on the adjunct faculty of SUNY Albany, School of Social Welfare, and Vermont College of the Union Institute and University. Lev is a Board Member of the Family Pride Coalition and maintains a “Dear Ari” (www.proudparenting.com) and can be reached at 518-463-9152 (www.choicesconsulting.com).
THE COMPLETE LESBIAN AND GAY PARENTING GUIDEby Arlene Lev, LCSW, CASAC Berkley Trade Paperback Original   Penguin Group (USA) Inc.   www.penguin.com       November 2004; $15.00 ISBN: 0-425-19197-4