Today’s American families are increasingly diverse. Children may be raised by grandparents, single parents, stepparents, aunts, uncles or foster parents. Their parents may be married or unmarried; they may be heterosexual or lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT).
Outdated laws and social stigma hurt children who are being raised by “de facto” parents (a de facto parent functions as a parent to a child but is not a legally-recognized parent). De facto parents can include aunts, uncles, or grandparents who are
raising related children, or even close family friends who raise children with whom they have no biological ties. LGBT parents are also often de facto parents. This happens because only one same-sex parent can be a biological parent, and the law often prevents the second, non-biological parent from adopting or otherwise creating legal ties to his or her child.
– Greg
http://www.lgbtmap.org/file/lgbt-families-of-color-facts-at-a-glance.pdf