But the legality of gay marriage does not affect “the stable and continuous protection of the offspring in a structured environment that by its very design provides everything they need to survive.” In other words, gay people are not going to have children regardless of the legality of gay marriage. The AAP paper I cited says that even if gay people do end up raising children, the children are just as healthy and well off as in heterosexual households.
Study was flawed.
“A key methodological flaw in those studies is that they compared the wellbeing of children in homosexual households to those raised in difficult circumstances such as single-parent households that resulted from divorce, Cretella said.”
“Another documented consequence of same-sex parenting is an increased likelihood that children of same-sex parents will claim a homosexual identity themselves. Cretella noted that multiple studies have found that homosexually behaving teens and young adults suffer increased rates of depression, anxiety, eating disorders, addictions and suicidal thoughts.”
ncregister.com/site/article/15089
In some studies, children raised by homosexual partners seem to suffer from sex-role confusion.
R. Green et al., “Lesbian Mothers and Their Children: A Comparison With Solo Parent Heterosexual Mothers and Their Children,” Archives of Sexual Behavior 15 (1986): 167-83; P. A. Belcastro et al., “A Review of Data Based Studies Addressing the Effects of Homosexual Parenting on Children’s Sexual and Social Functioning,” Journal of Divorce and Remarriage 20 (1993): 105-22; B. Hoeffer, “Lesbian and Heterosexual Single Mothers: Influence of Their Child’s Acquisition of Sex-Role Traits and Behavior,” (dissertation, University of California), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1979; D. L. Puryear, “Familial Experiences: A Comparison Between Children of Lesbian Mothers and the Children of Heterosexual Mothers,” (Dissertation, University of California), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1983; J. D. Kunin, “Predictors of Psychosocial and Behavioral Adjustment of Children: A Study Comparing Children Raised by Lesbian Parents to Children Raised by Heterosexual Parents,” Dissertation Abstracts International, 59 (1998): (6-B), 3094; G. A. Javaid, “The Children of Homosexual and Heterosexual Single Mothers,” Child Psychiatry and Human Development 23 (1993): 235-48; K. Lewis, “The Children of Lesbians: Their Point of View,” Social Work 23 (1980): 198-203
Studies by Cameron and Cameron have shown a high incidence of incest between minor children and homosexual parents of both sexes. These investigators suggest that homosexual parents may be more likely to abuse their children sexually than heterosexual parents, so although the point is not definitively proven, the available evidence is worrisome
P. Cameron and K. Cameron, “Homosexual Parents,” 757-66; P. Cameron and K. Cameron, “Homosexual Parents: A Comparative Forensic Study of Character and Harms to Children” Psychological Reports 82 (1998): 1155-91.
Children raised by both biological parents are significantly healthier, happier and better adjusted emotionally than kids raised by single parents of either sex. They are less likely to live in poverty or engage in violent crime or sexual promiscuity and more likely to be successful in school, career, and marriage. Same-sex couples, by definition, would have at least one non-biological parent.
Waite and Gallagher, op. cit., 124-40.
Several of these sentences and references come from the following link.
catholic.com/library/gay_marriage.asp
A girl recounts her experience from being brought up under a same-sex attracted father.
ncregister.com/site/article/191
And the question of whether or not reproduction is a key component of marriage is a religious one. If the fact that they can’t have kids is the basis for denying them marriage it is functionally equivalent to my original posts summary:
“We expect the state to deny certain people access to marriage on the grounds that our definition of the sacrament does not allow them to be married”
At this point, the discussion is about the harm done to children of same-sex people. Now, the number of studies does not in of itself prove a position. However the number does say that we need to look at these studies. Until the homosexual movement can prove their parenting is safe and is as good as heterosexual parents, then children should not be endangered in such an experiment.
We have conflicting studies. So now what?
