Gay Parents As Good As Straight On | BU Today | Boston Universy

Contents:

• KIDS OF GAY PARENTS FARE WORSE, STUDY FDS, BUT REARCH DRAWS FIRE OM EXPERTS
• GROWG UP WH GAY PARENTS: WHAT IS THE BIG AL?*
• WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY [UPDATED MAY 2023]
• LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG
• GAY PARENTS AS GOOD AS STRAIGHT ON
• PARENTS’ FLUENCE ON LBIAN, GAY, OR BISEXUAL TEENS

KIDS OF GAY PARENTS FARE WORSE, STUDY FDS, BUT REARCH DRAWS FIRE OM EXPERTS

Three key fdgs stood out this study: children of married, oppose-sex parents have a high graduatn rate pared to the others; children of lbian fai have a very low graduatn rate pared to the others; and children the other four typ of livg arrangements (mon law marriage, gay uple, sgle mother, and sgle father) are siar to each other and fall between the extrem of married heterosexual parents and lbian upl. The women (whose average age both groups was 29) wh gay or bisexual fathers had difficulty wh adult attachment issu three areas: (1) they were ls fortable wh closens and timacy; (2) they were ls able to tst and pend on others; and (3) they experienced more anxiety relatnships pared to the women raised by heterosexual fathers (and mothers).

The study is noteworthy for several reasons: (1) his study sample was large, reprentative, and populatn-based (not a small, self-selected group); (2) Regnes studied the rpons of adult children rather than askg same-sex parents to scribe how their young pennt children are dog; and (3) he was able to draw parisons on up to 80 measur for children who had lived wh (or had) parents who fell to one of eight tegori—tact fai wh both blogil parents who were married to each other, lbian mothers, gay fathers, heterosexual sgle parents, parents who later divorced, habg parents, parents who adopted the rponnt, and other (such as a ceased parent).

The thor remend further flaws exist the vast majory of studi published before 2012 on this subject (Marks 2012) cludg the fact that they relied upon small, nonreprentative sampl that are not reprentative of children typil homosexual fai the Uned major studi, published by Gartrell and Bos (2010) and Biblarz and Stacey (2010), are often ced by gay activists and extensively the media. In s 2004 endorsement of what is monly referred to as the “no differenc” theory, the Amerin Psychologil Associatn (APA) clared that “there is no scientific evince that parentg effectivens is related to parental sexual orientatn: lbian and gay parents are as likely as heterosexual parents to provi supportive and healthy environments for their children, ” and “rearch has shown that the adjtment, velopment, and psychologil well-beg of children is unrelated to parental sexual orientatn and that the children of lbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish.

GROWG UP WH GAY PARENTS: WHAT IS THE BIG AL?*

Unlike heterosexual parents and their children, however, lbian and gay parents and their children are often subject to prejudice bee of their sexual orientatn that n turn judg, legislators, profsnals, and the public agast them, sometim rultg negative out, such as loss of physil ctody, rtrictns on visatn, and prohibns agast adoptn (ACLU Lbian and Gay Rights Project, 2002; Appell, 2003; Patterson, Fulcher, & Waright, 2002). Three ncerns have historilly been associated wh judicial cisn makg ctody ligatn and public polici erng foster re and adoptn: the belief that lbians and gay men are mentally ill, that lbians are ls maternal than heterosexual women, and that lbians' and gay men's relatnships wh sexual partners leave ltle time for ongog parent-child teractns (ACLU Lbian and Gay Rights Project, 2002; Falk, 1989, 1994; Patterson et al., 2002; Patterson & Reddg, 1996). There is no reliable evince that homosexual orientatn per se impairs psychologil functng, although the social and other circumstanc which lbians and gay men live, cludg exposure to wispread prejudice and discrimatn, often e acute distrs (Cochran, 2001; Freedman, 1971; Gonsrek, 1991; Hart et al., 1978; Hooker, 1957; Meyer, 2003; Reiss, 1980).

A recent study of 256 lbian and gay parent fai found that, ntrast to patterns characterizg the majory of Amerin parents, very few lbian and gay parents reported any e of physil punishment (such as spankg) as a disciplary technique; stead, they were likely to report e of posive techniqu such as reasong (Johnson & O'Connor, 2002). Certaly, rearch has found no reasons to believe lbian mothers or gay fathers to be unf parents (Armto, 2002; Barret & Robson, 1990; Bigner & Bozett, 1990; Bigner & Jabsen, 1989a, 1989b; Bos et al., 2003, 2004; Bozett, 1980, 1989; Patterson, 1997; Patterson & Chan, 1996; Sbordone, 1993; Tasker & Golombok, 1997; Victor & Fish, 1995; Wton, 1991).

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATN IS GAY [UPDATED MAY 2023]

Three aspects of sexual inty are nsired the rearch: genr inty, which ncerns a person's self-intifitn as male or female; genr-role behavr, which ncerns the extent to which a person's activi, occupatns, and the like are regard by the culture as mascule, feme, or both; and sexual orientatn, which refers to a person's choice of sexual partners, who may be homosexual, heterosexual, or bisexual (Money & Ehrhardt, 1972; Ste, 1993). Subjects evaluated vigt pictg eher a gay male uple or heterosexual uple and their adopted son along the dimensns of parentg abily, gree to which the child's problems were attributable to the parental relatnship, distrs of the child (cludg genr and sexual inty nfn), and the extent to which ctody reassignment was perceived to be beneficial.

A review of rearch on children of lbian and gay parents intifi some of the sourc of diversy wh lbian and gay parentg muni / prent rearch on those who beme parents the ntext of heterosexual relatnships, before g out as lbian or gay / scribe studi of lbians who beme parents after g out [prent] rearch on children born the ntext of heterosexual relatnships... The amework foc on (1) whether selectn effects produced by homophobia acunt for associatns between parental sexual orientatns and child out; (2) the role of parental genr vis-à-vis sexual orientatn fluencg children's genr velopment; and (3) the relatnship between parental sexual orientatns and children's sexual preferenc and behavrs.

Although is clear that homosexualy is not and of self related to psychopathology, there are persistent suggtns that the particular strs endured by gay men and lbians, pecially adolcence and young adulthood, may e an upsurge attempted suici and perhaps chemil abe, perhaps temporary or perhaps a segment of homosexuals.

LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG

The paper foc on (a) methodologil problems rearch on homosexualy; (b) studi parg adjtment levels of male homosexuals and male heterosexuals, effemate and noneffemate male homosexuals, and female homosexuals and female heterosexuals; (c) the relatnship between gree of homosexualy and adjtment; (d) homosexual subculture; and (e) the relatnship between homosexualy and psychopathology. (From the chapter) social science theory and empiril rearch to scribe and expla psychologil heterosexism the US today / addrs the attudal and belief ponents of psychologil heterosexism, wh special attentn to gnive and motivatnal procs / behavral aspects of psychologil heterosexism-specifilly, acts of vlence agast lbians and gay men-are discsed / the nsequenc of psychologil heterosexism are nsired. (From the chapter) child ctody / sexual orientatn and liftyle on their children / ctodial gay fathers / children's reactns to havg a gay father / social ntrol strategi / boundary ntrol fluencg factors / mutualy / father's reactns / protective strategi / role molg / children's velopment of sexual inty / homonegative reactns of children.

Divid to three segments, the book tak an unflchg and entirely new look at motherg: "New Lsons" exam the way which sons of lbians grow up to be different men; "Makg a Fay" looks at fay nstcts and "Facg Loss" reveals the heart-breakg realy that many women have had to nont when their fai were threatened by homophobic urts and tradns.

(From the chapter) gay fatherhood has emerged to public awarens and brought qutns / who are gay fathers, and how do they bee parents / what kd of parents do gay men make, and how do their children velop / what special challeng and strs do gay fathers and their children face daily life, and how do they pe wh them / what n acquatance wh gay fathers and their children offer to the unrstandg of parenthood, child velopment, and fay life / although rearch leratur bearg on such qutns are que new and relatively sparse, existg studi addrs some issu raised by the existence of gay fathers. “WHEREAS, The legislative protectn afford to children of parents homosexual relatnships vari om state to state, wh some stat enactg or nsirg legislatn sanctng -parent or send parent adoptn by partners of the same sex, several stat clg to nsir legislatn, and at least one state altogether banng adoptn by the send parent; and. “The Amerin Psychologil Associatn plor all public and private discrimatn such areas as employment, hog, public acmodatn, and licensg agast those who engage or have engaged homosexual activi and clar that no burn of proof of such judgment, pacy, or reliabily shall be placed upon the dividuals greater than that imposed on any other persons.

GAY PARENTS AS GOOD AS STRAIGHT ON

“WHEREAS people who also experience discrimatn based on age, race, ethnicy, disabily, genr and genr inty, relign, and socenomic stat may pecially benef om accs to marriage for same-sex upl (Divisn 44/Commtee on Sexual Orientatn and Genr Diversy Jot Task Force on Guil for Psychotherapy wh Lbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients, 2000);. Even so more than 50 percent agree that gay and lbian upl n be as good parents as heterosexual upl, wh 37 percent terms of adoptn, about the same number of Amerins say they favor adoptn by same-sex upl (46 percent) as say they oppose (48 percent), acrdg to a Pew survey of more than 2, 000 dividuals nducted who oppose same-sex marriage, or civil unns, tout var arguments, one of which volv the harm done to children of same-sex upl, whether due to the lack of a father or mother figure or the promotn of homosexualy, the study rearchers say. "[The rearch] pretty much shows that almost no study that has been done on this topic has nfirmed this mon sense assumptn that genr is cril or that a father-mother hoehold works better for kids than a same-sex hoehold, " said Brian Powell, a soclogist at Indiana Universy, who also wasn't volved this tractors of same-sex parents ntend the children will grow up to be homosexuals or at the very least nfed about their sexualy or genr.

Such arguments are not based on a prehensive asssment of the evince for this claim and are ually rmed by relig or iologil beliefs about what nstut a rearch paper scrib the diverse characteristics of same-sex parented fai Atralia, their support needs and experienc, and the challeng they may face given the stigma and discrimatn often attached to homosexualy and enuntered by some same-sex upl. In this report, "same-sex parented fai" is ed when the pot beg ma is relevant to all non-heterosexual fai, and "lbian-parented" or "gay-parented" when the pot relat to fai head by female and male same-sex upl or sole parents, is also important to note that "lbian" and "gay" are not universally ed as self-scriptors by women and men who are parentg the ntext of a same-sex relatnship or inty. Consirably more bisexual men than gay men the study reported havg children (40% vs 11%), wh bisexual men also more likely than bisexual women (40% vs 25%) to report havg parented fai are characteristilly diverse wh regard to mo of nceptn or fay formatn, and fay stcture (see Anrssen, Aie, & Ytteroy, 2002; Biblarz & Savci, 2010; Gunn & Surte, 2009; Power et al., 2010; Tasker & Patterson, 2007; Weeks et al., 2001).

Further to this, and for a range of reasons, very few Atralian children bee available for adoptn beyond their fai of orig (see Higgs, 2012) Work, Love and Play study (Power et al., 2010) of 445 Atralian and New Zealanr lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) parents is the largt this untry unrtaken to date and found there are six major fay typ:a two-parent same-sex uple-based fay;fai which a lbian uple were the primary parents but a known sperm donor lived separately and had volvement the children's liv;fai which a lbian or gay man were still -parentg wh an ex-heterosexual partner;separated same-sex fai where women or men were -parentg wh their ex-same-sex partner;sole parent fai; andmulti-parent fai, ually a gay male uple and a lbian uple raisg children together om birth across two hoeholds. Children may have been nceived the ntext of prev heterosexual relatnships, or raised om birth by a -parentg gay or lbian uple or sgle tentnally planned lbian or gay parented fai, is mon for children to be nceived through assisted reproductive technologi (ART) such as donor sematn (DI), -vro fertilizatn (IVF) and surrogacy.

PARENTS’ FLUENCE ON LBIAN, GAY, OR BISEXUAL TEENS

Women's fathers, brothers and heterosexual or gay male iends are known to be valued as "male role mols" for children, due to lbian parents' sire for children to have accs to diverse adult male and female social works (Borthwick & Bloch, 1993; Gartrell et al., 1996; Goldberg & Allen, 2007; Wakelg & Bradstock, 1995) msag: Lbian-parented faiLbian -parentg upl tend to divi their hoehold labour and child re rponsibili more equably than heterosexual upl.