A study was conducted to examine how children cope with having a homosexual father so that helping professionals, and particularly nurses, might have a knowledge base upon which to base interventions. Data were obtained from indepth interviews with 19 individuals ranging in age from 14 to 35 who had a homosexual father. Two of the six male respondents identified themselves as also being homosexual. Results of the unstructured interviews indicated that the overriding task of these children was identity management through social control, i.e., management of their own identity through the use of social control mechanisms. It appeared that the children developed and used controlling strategies which controlled their interactions with their father, their father's interactions with them, or their interactions with others in relation to their father. Strategies identified include boundary control, non-disclosure, and disclosure. Various influencing factors appeared to help determine the degree or extent to which strategies were used. Influencing factors identified include the perceptual factors of mutuality and obtrusiveness, living arrangements, and developmental or age-related factors. Seven propositions based on these findings are presented, and implications for nurses are discussed (NB)