What We Know | What do the scholarly rearch say about the well-beg of children wh gay or lbian parents? | What We Know

Contents:

• THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS
• WHAT DO THE SCHOLARLY REARCH SAY ABOUT THE WELL-BEG OF CHILDREN WH GAY OR LBIAN PARENTS?
• NO ‘GAY GENE’: MASSIVE STUDY HOM ON GEIC BASIS OF HUMAN SEXUALY
• LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG

THERE IS NO ‘GAY GENE.’ THERE IS NO ‘STRAIGHT GENE.’ SEXUALY IS JT PLEX, STUDY NFIRMS

This study is the first to tly bridge the gap our knowledge left by prev studi that have shown the benefs of beg raised by a married mother and father (but which did not clu direct parisons wh homosexual parents), and prev studi on homosexual parents (which, however, did not e large, reprentative sampl).

WHAT DO THE SCHOLARLY REARCH SAY ABOUT THE WELL-BEG OF CHILDREN WH GAY OR LBIAN PARENTS?

Sce most of the media attentn has foced on the parison between children of homosexual parents and children of "tact blogil fai" (that is, children raised by their own blogil mother and father who are married to one another), crics argue that the children of homosexuals did worse only bee most of them this study had experienced stabily their fay stcture (e. 5) Public policy should ntue to enurage the raisg of children by a married mother and father, while disuragg, attemptg to rce, and/or refg to affirm or subsidize alternativ such as out-of-wedlock births, sgle parenthood, habatn, divorce, or "homosexual parentg.

NO ‘GAY GENE’: MASSIVE STUDY HOM ON GEIC BASIS OF HUMAN SEXUALY

It is important to note that the same-sex soc-sexual behavr observed the study is distct om homosexual behavr bee s motivatn and purpose are social, said Jean-Baptiste Le, who studi primate behavr at the Universy of Lethbridge Canada and was not volved the new rearch. The past several s have seen a proliferatn of studi on lbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) parentg, wh creased attentn to (a) fay buildg by LGB people; (b) the transn to parenthood for LGB parents; and (c) functng and experienc of LGB parents and their children.

Rearchers have found few differenc between children raised by lbian and heterosexual parents terms of self-teem, qualy of life, psychologil adjtment, or social functng (rearch on the psychosocial out of children wh gay male parents is limed). Although adolcents and young adults reared by LGB parents are no more likely to self-intify as exclively lbian/gay than those reared by heterosexual parents, havg a lbian mother was associated wh a greater likelihood of nsirg or havg a same-sex relatnship, and more expansive, ls tegoril notns of sexualy. “As a teenager tryg to unrstand myself and unrstand my sexualy, I looked at the ter for “the gay gene” and obvly me across Xq28, ” said Fah Sathirapongsasuti, a study -thor and senr scientist at 23andMe, which he joked once led him to believe he hered his gayns om his mother.

LBIAN AND GAY PARENTG

At most a handful of the children who were studied were actually raised by same-sex parents; the rt me om fai which oppose-sex parents raised their children for a perd of time, but which, often, one or more parent(s) subsequently me out as gay or lbian and left the fay or had a same-sex relatnship. Includg such children among those labeled as havg been “raised by same-sex parents” is so misleadg as to be accurate, sce the children were generally raised by oppose-sex fai and only later, after a fay disptn, did they live hoeholds wh one or more gay parent(s), and only rarely did two parents of the same sex, a stable, long-term relatnship, actually raise the children together.

Yet same-sex attractn is wispread humans, and rearch suggts that is partly a study of data om hundreds of thoands of people, rearchers have now intified geic patterns that uld be associated wh homosexual behavur, and showed how the might also help people to fd different-sex mat, and reproduce.