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'Family' is an important concept in end-of-life care policy and practice but familial relationships are rarely considered, beyond a bio-medical framework and/or as a resource for informal care. Furthermore, bereavement and grief have largely come to be seen as the domain for psychiatry and psychology. I argue for an exploration of death, dying and bereavement as experiences within which everyday family practices are embedded and enacted. In doing so, I draw on experiences, in an English setting, relating to my parents' coming to the end of their lives. Morgan's work is central to this endeavour and I apply aspects of his work to this important but understudied area of family sociology. Building on insights from this important body of work, I argue this can help to develop richer, more nuanced understandings of the everyday familial experiences of dying and death bound up in social, material and cultural contexts.

This article examines neglected aspects of coming out that arise for lesbian parents and for their families of origin and considers the ways in which these forms of coming out resonate with the concept of display work. It draws upon a study that examines the family lives of lesbian couples who had their first and subsequent children in the context of their current relationship. Respondents identify having children as a point at which their own parents (and other members of their families of origin) are potentially called upon to negotiate new kin relationships. The lesbian parents' child may also be a grandchild, a nephew or niece, a cousin. I utilize the concept of display work to examine respondents' accounts about how they negotiate recognition and validation as a lesbian parent family with their family of origin and how their families of origin `come out' (or not) within their own social networks.

It is often suggested that in carrying out research into the lives of LGBT people, researchers have an advantage if they share the same sexual orientation with their respondents – including greater access to respondents and the production of research accounts that perhaps have greater validity. However the process of doing research and writing up research is more complex than this suggests. In this article I seek to examine some of these assumptions in greater depth. A central (although not exclusive) concern of feminist debates is the extent to which the researcher's identity and experiences impact on the processes of doing research - and as such, the extent to which these should be made explicit. In examining some of these complexities, I draw upon these debates, the experiences of other researchers in the field of LGBT research and my own research examining the family lives of twenty lesbian parent families in the UK. I conclude that the ways in which the researcher may be positioned as an insider/outsider in research can be complex and these issues are particularly salient when choosing research topics to which the researcher has some level of personal and/or political commitment.

Discussion of coming out within lesbian and gay academic literature has focussed primarily on the individual process and consequences of disclosing a lesbian/gay identity. Drawing upon data from a qualitative research study of 20 lesbian parent families in the UK, who had planned and had their first child together, this paper considers dimensions of coming out that arise for lesbian parents having children in an openly lesbian relationship. To date little attention has been paid to these dimensions. Women identified how having children revealed new layers of being out as parenthood brought them into contact with a whole new range of people, settings and networks. Negotiating recognition of their parental and familial status involves making decisions about when, where and how to come out in these new settings and women also faced renegotiations of an acceptance of their lesbian identity and parenthood with family members. This paper utilises stigma theory to examine some of the additional complexities related to the decisions and negotiations involved in being out as lesbian parent families.

With an increasingly diverse ageing population, we need to understand how social divisions intersect to affect outcomes in later life. Gender and sexuality are recognised as key factors in determining a person's experience of later life but little research has been done into how age, gender and sexualities work together and with other divisions, including ethnicity and class, to form a range of inequalities and opportunities for people as they age.

The collection brings together an international group of researchers and writers from Australia, Brazil, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK, and the USA, who argue for multiple, complex contextualised and spatialized approaches to understanding intersections of ageing, gender and sexualities and uneven outcomes in later life. The book highlights new ways of engaging with and thinking through questions related to ageing, gender and sexualities.

Drawing on the chronic illness scholarship and identity theories, this article aims to deepen the understanding of the biographical disruptions experienced by undergraduate students living with a long-term health condition. Data are drawn from in-depth interviews with six undergraduate (female) students attending university in England. The analysis highlights the ways chronicity and multiplicity come together to shape students' health and social identities. The findings reveal three narratives of the Self: the ill Self, the determined Self, and the authentic Self. These distinct, yet interconnected, narratives highlight the complex shifts in the Self as students sought ways to 'push through' multiple (academic, health, social) pressures. Maintaining academic and social engagement met with significant challenge, ultimately shaping the emotional and social lives of these students. The article offers a novel contribution to how undergraduate students navigate multiple identities in the face of ongoing illness.

This article introduces a special edition of the Journal of Sociology that aims to interrogate the ongoing entrenchment of hetero- and cis-normative borders, and the consequential manifestations of power, violence and in/justice experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people in their relationships and family lives. The articles in this issue all explore different forms of violence, injustice, and persecution that continue to exist despite the success of many social justice campaigns in recent years for LGBTQ people. This article provides a synopsis of the research in this collection – research which demonstrates and expands our understandings of the complexities of LGBTQ lives around the globe negotiating empowerment, safety, and justice. We highlight the ongoing importance of this work as LGBTQ people around the world are experiencing the disproportionate impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This article explores how sexual orientation1 may impact on concerns about, and experiences of, end of life care and bereavement within same-sex relationships. We draw on exploratory data from four focus groups with lesbian and gay elders ( N = 15), which formed part of a larger project investigating a range of older people's concerns about end of life care. We set the findings in the context of debates about broader changes to family forms within late modernity, alongside social change and demographic shifts. Our focus on end of life care and bereavement sheds light on a series of relatively neglected issues associated with lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) ageing and, more broadly, the topics of care and support within 'non-traditional' intimate relationships and personal networks. We point to the importance of further research into the lives of older lesbians and gay men facing issues of end of life care and bereavement.

What does it mean to grow older as a lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans (LGBT) person? What gaps in knowledge about LGBT ageing remain? This timely and innovative book reports on a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council which aimed to address gaps in knowledge about older LGBT people and their experiences of ageing. The book discusses the project and contains chapters either specially commissioned or written by leading researchers and activists in the field. Informed by a range of theoretical perspectives, empirical research studies, critical observations as well as lived experiences, this book explores areas of LGBT ageing that have been under-studied. These include: bisexual ageing; trans ageing and older trans people's mental health; ethnicity, culture and religion in the lives of older LGBT people and gaps in knowledge about older LGBT people from minority ethnic communities; intergenerational networks; residential and end-of-life care; and the effects of austerity on services. Written in an accessible style, this book is essential for researchers and policy makers interested in the lives of older LGBT people, people who work with older people and teachers and students interested in ageing, gender identity and sexuality.

While there is a significant interdisciplinary and international literature available on death, dying and bereavement, literature addressing responses to death is dominated by assumptions about individuality, framing 'bereavement' and 'grief' in terms of the inner psychic life of the individual. Scholarly literature tells us little about how the continuing aftermath of death is experienced in the everyday, relational lives of the living. Inspired by research from Majority Worlds, we consider literature that might enable a more 'relational' sociological approach, and explore what that might involve. We set out the potential for family sociology to provide an intrinsically (if variable) relational lens on the aftermath of death, along with examples of radical relational theorising more generally. We argue for a reframing and broadening of the dominant 'bereavement studies' of Minority Worlds towards a much-needed paradigm shift in understanding the continuing aftermath of death in the lives of the living.

Background  Inclusion is one of four policies for people with disabilities in the UK. Criticisms of its three key attributes – mainstreaming, independent living and employment – are reviewed.Methods  This study of 28 young people, most with severe intellectual disabilities, investigated engagement with inclusion at their transition to adult services. Data were collected from the young people where possible; from their carers, mostly parents; and from professionals responsible for brokering transition. Narrative analysis of this material investigated ways in which respondents did or did not engage with the goals of inclusion as defined in various policy documents.Results  Both mainstreaming and independent living were experienced as moral imperatives which generated tension for many respondents. Employment was associated with less tension, probably because only a minority of respondents considered it salient. Possible alternative goals invoked by parents/carers and professionals were meaningful activity and same‐age social relationships.Conclusions  There is a need to acknowledge the moral pressures and judgements arising from inclusion policy that complicate decision‐making at transition and to shift the moral horizon away from individual attainments and towards the activities and relationships that take people beyond themselves.

Health inequalities are differences in health experiences and outcomes which arise through the everyday circumstances of people's lives and the appropriateness of the systems put in place to support them. Such differences stem from social inequalities. As they can be alleviated through social policy, they are a key concern for global public health. Worldwide, they are the focus of governmental efforts to reduce avoidable differences in health (e.g., in the UK, Health equity in England 2020 [1] and in the USA, Healthy People 2030 [2]). The salience of health inequalities in public life cannot be over-emphasized; for example, it has informed policymaking since Engels' [3] 1845 ground-breaking text on the condition of the working class in England and numerous policy initiatives since then (e.g., in the UK, The Black Report 1979, The Acheson Inquiry 1998, Fair Society, Healthy Lives 2010).