Gay Parents Raisg Kids: How Will They Fare? | Psychology Today

Contents:

• WHY GAY PARENTS MAY BE THE BT PARENTS
• 5 SCIENTIFIC REASONS GAY PARENTS ARE AWOME
• WHY GAY PARENTS ARE GOOD PARENTS
• IT'S SCIENCE: 6 REASONS GAY PARENTS ARE THE BT PARENTS
• GAY PARENTS RAISG KIDS: HOW WILL THEY FARE?
• GAY PARENTS AS GOOD AS STRAIGHT ON
• LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG

WHY GAY PARENTS MAY BE THE BT PARENTS

In fact, some ways, gay parents may brg talents to the table that straight parents don' parents "tend to be more motivated, more mted than heterosexual parents on average, bee they chose to be parents, " said Abbie Goldberg, a psychologist at Clark Universy Massachetts who rearch gay and lbian parentg. ) [5 Myths About Gay People Debunked]Adoptg the needitGay adoptn recently ed ntroversy Illois, where Catholic Chari adoptn servic cid November to cease offerg servic bee the state refed fundg unls the groups agreed not to discrimate agast gays and lbians.

5 SCIENTIFIC REASONS GAY PARENTS ARE AWOME

More than half of the kids adopted by gays and lbians had special report didn't pare the adoptn preferenc of gay upl directly wh those of heterosexual upl, said thor David Brodzsky, rearch director at the Instute and -edor of "Adoptn By Lbians and Gay Men: A New Dimensn of Fay Diversy" (Oxford Universy Prs, 2011). Part of that uld be their own preferenc, and part uld be bee of discrimatn by adoptn agenci that puts more difficult children wh what seworkers see as "ls sirable" matter how you slice , Brodzsky told LiveScience, gays and lbians are highly terted adoptn as a group. "When you thk about the 114, 000 children who are eed for adoptn who ntue to live foster re and who are not beg readily adopted, the goal is to crease the pool of available, terted and well-traed dividuals to parent the children, " Brodzsky addn, Brodzsky said, there's evince to suggt that gays and lbians are pecially acceptg of open adoptns, where the child retas some ntact wh his or her birth parents.

"Intertgly, we fd that a small percentage, but enough to be noteworthy, [of birth mothers] make a nsc cisn to place wh gay men, so they n be the only mother their child's life, " Brodzsky parentgRearch has shown that the kids of same-sex upl — both adopted and blogil kids — fare no worse than the kids of straight upl on mental health, social functng, school performance and a variety of other life-succs a 2010 review of virtually every study on gay parentg, New York Universy soclogist Judh Stacey and Universy of Southern California soclogist Tim Biblarz found no differenc between children raised hom wh two heterosexual parents and children raised wh lbian parents.

"There's no doubt whatsoever om the rearch that children wh two lbian parents are growg up to be jt as well-adjted and succsful" as children wh a male and a female parent, " Stacey told is very ltle rearch on the children of gay men, so Stacey and Biblarz uldn't draw nclns on those fai. "The dividuals feel like their perspectiv on fay, on genr, on sexualy have largely been enhanced by growg up wh gay parents, " Goldberg 33-year-old man wh a lbian mother told Goldberg, "I feel I'm a more open, well-round person for havg been raised a nontradnal fay, and I thk those that know me would agree. After perseverg through those challeng, gay parents "tend to be more motivated, more mted than heterosexual parents on average, bee they chose to be parents, " Abbie Goldberg, a psychologist at Clark Universy Massachetts who rearch gay and lbian parentg, told LiveScience last, the group parentg sre of gay parents isn't as dragged down by people who fell to parenthood accintally and weren't prepared, Goldberg said.

WHY GAY PARENTS ARE GOOD PARENTS

They foster toleranceHere's an advantage straight om the horse's mouth: Kids raised by gay and lbian parents say their upbrgg tght them open-mdns and a 2007 study published the Amerin Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Clark Universy's Goldberg terviewed 46 adults who grew up wh at least one gay parent.

STORY HIGHLIGHTSJennifer Chrisler says gay people want to raise fai, jt like straight peopleChrisler: Kids' advot and medil groups say preventg gay adoptn don't help kidsShe says many foster re uld have permanent hom if gay people uld adopt themChrisler: Print mt back Every Child Derv a Fay Act to open door to gay adoptnEdors note: Jennifer Chrisler is executive director of Fay Equaly Council, an advocy group for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr parents and guardians. The Child Welfare League of Ameri, the bs of protectg children sce 1920, has been unequivol: "Any attempt to preclu or prevent gay, lbian, and bisexual dividuals or upl om parentg, based solely on their sexual orientatn, is not the bt tert of children. (Florida's ban has been kept place sce 1977 wh the help of ttimony om now discreded and disgraced Gee Rekers, an anti-gay rights activist who recently toured Europe wh a male rt and who has been the star wns for the small but vol group of anti-gay adoptn activists.

IT'S SCIENCE: 6 REASONS GAY PARENTS ARE THE BT PARENTS

Pl Cameron, another anti-gay adoptn "expert" whose credibily has been recently cimated: He was dropped om the Amerin Psychologil Associatn for failg to operate wh an ethics vtigatn and censured by the Amerin Soclogil Associatn, which nmned him for misreprentn of soclogial rearch. And when we're good and tipsy, I'd like them to follow me a proper "I Told You So, " dance for all the people who have long thought that gay parents were on par wh the Bee the rearchers have disvered that when to "general health and fay hn, " 's the children of same-sex upl, as opposed to tradnal upl, that really she.

Although the rearchers also found that two-thirds of the children still experience some form of stigma simply bee of their gay parents, what's most important is the self-teem and nfince that the kids are gettg, and society and their issu wh a love that's different om the one they know n be damned. It's time to accept or jt disappear to the woodwork, isn't the first time that rearchers have found that children of gay parents are actually better off than those of straight parents, and kicked tradnal ias to the are a six more facts om studi om the past few years that will prove that gay parents really have this parentg thg the bag.

A 2010 study done by pediatricians hopg to fd the posive effects of gay parentg on children, found that addn to kids of same-sex upl beg far more tolerant of, well, jt about everythg, they're also more nurturg to those around them, pecially children younger than themselv. The days, gay parents are no novelty: We see them strollg through our neighborhoods, participatg our PTA meetgs, and, perhaps most notably, appearg on our TV screens: Mchell and Cam, fathers to Lily, on the ratgs smash Morn Fay; Glee’s Sue Sylvter, expectant mom to a baby nceived wh an as-yet-unrevealed sperm donor, and Rachel’s dads, played wh humor and grace by Jeff Goldblum and Brian Stok.

GAY PARENTS RAISG KIDS: HOW WILL THEY FARE?

Though this media mastreamifitn of gay parentg is a relatively new phenomenon, for s, gay parents have had children all sorts of fay nfiguratns—whether through adoptn, prev heterosexual relatnships, or, creasgly, by choosg to have blogil offsprg g vro, surrogate, and other methods. Pl Cameron, another anti-gay adoptn "expert" whose credibily has been recently cimated: He was dropped om the Amerin Psychologil Associatn for failg to operate wh an ethics vtigatn and censured by the Amerin Soclogil Associatn, which nmned him for misreprentn of soclogil rearch. 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).

The relevance of this cricism has been greatly rced as rearch has expand to explore life a wir array of lbian mother and gay father fai (many of which have never lived through the divorce of a heterosexual uple), and as newer studi beg to clu a wir array of ntrol groups.

GAY PARENTS AS GOOD AS STRAIGHT ON

An expert readg of the Sarantakos article reveals that certa characteristics of s methodology and sample are highly likely to have skewed the rults and renred them an valid ditor of the well-beg of children raised by gay and lbian parents at least three rpects:.

The children raised by gay and lbian parents experienced unually high levels of extreme social ostracism and overt hostily om other children and parents, which probably acunted for the former's lower levels of teractn and social tegratn wh peers (see pp.

LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG

Some nonscientific anizatns have attempted to nvce urts that there is an actual scientific dispute this area by cg rearch performed by Pl Cameron as supportg the existence of fics gay and lbian parents or their children pared to heterosexual parents or their children.

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). Many years ago, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn removed "homosexualy" om s list of mental disorrs, statg that "homosexualy per se impli no impairment judgment, stabily, reliabily, or general social or votnal pabili" (Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, 1974). The cisn to remove homosexual orientatn om the list of mental disorrs reflects extensive rearch nducted over three s showg that homosexual orientatn is not a psychologil maladjtment (Gonsrek, 1991; Hart, Roback, Ttler, Wez, Walston, & McKee, 1978; Reiss, 1980).

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).