---
"title": "It’s Fathers’ Day for many American men, including 23% of those who are LGBT"
"description": "About a quarter of LGBT men are fathers, and an additional 14% would like to have children someday."
"date": "2013-06-16"
"authors":
  -
    "name": "Jocelyn Kiley"
    "job_title": "Director, Politics Research"
    "link": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/staff/jocelyn-kiley/"
"url": "https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/short-reads/2013/06/16/its-fathers-day-for-many-american-men-including-23-of-those-who-are-lgbt/"
"categories":
  - "Household Structure & Family Roles"
  - "LGBTQ Acceptance"
  - "LGBTQ Attitudes & Experiences"
  - "Motherhood & Fatherhood"
  - "Parenthood"
---

# It’s Fathers’ Day for many American men, including 23% of those who are LGBT

About a quarter of LGBT men may be getting Happy Fathers’ Day wishes today. According to the Pew Research Center’s [new survey of LGBT Americans](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/social-trends/2013/06/13/a-survey-of-lgbt-americans/5/#chapter-4-marriage-and-parenting), 23% of LGBT men are fathers, including 16% of gay men and 32% of bisexual men.

LGBT men are significantly less likely than men in the general public to be fathers: Seven-in-ten American men are fathers, according to Pew Research Center polling. And, LGBT women are about twice as likely as LGBT men to be parents: 48% are mothers, including 31% of lesbians and 59% of bisexual women.

[![FT_LGBT_Parents](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2013/06/FT_LGBT_Parents.png){.alignright width=280}](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/social-trends/2013/06/13/a-survey-of-lgbt-americans/5/#chapter-4-marriage-and-parenting)

Not surprisingly, younger LGBT men are less likely to be parents (just 13% of 18-44 year old LGBT men are fathers compared with 34% of those ages 45 and older), but are more likely to say they’d like to have children in the future (23% vs. 3%) .

In addition to the 23% of LGBT men who are currently fathers, 14% say they would like to have a child someday.

LGBT adults—both men and women—are less likely than the general public to view having children as an important reason to get married. Even as 93% of LGBT Americans support same-sex marriage and the same number favors allowing gay men and lesbians to adopt children, just 28% of all LGBT adults say having children is a very important reason to get married, with no significant differences between gay men (23%) and lesbians (29%). A third of bisexuals say this is a very important reason to get married. By contrast, 49% of American adults say that having children is a very important reason to get married. [Read more](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/social-trends/2013/06/13/a-survey-of-lgbt-americans/5/#chapter-4-marriage-and-parenting)

***See our other Father’s Day posts:***

[The New American Father](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/social-trends/2013/06/14/the-new-american-father/)

[5 Facts about Fathers](https://alpha.pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/short-reads/2013/06/11/5-facts-about-fathers/)