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Straight-Out Truth on Gay Parents by Brad Sears and Alan Hirsch Brad Sears, an OutGiving 2003 presenter and executive director of the UCLA School of Law's Williams Project on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy, along with Alan Hirsch, senior consultant for the project, discuss recent findings on gay parenting in this commentary. Research shows that most objections to same-sex marriage are rooted in religious faith or prejudice, and defy proof or disproof. However, opponents of same-sex marriage invoke some reasoning involving children that can be confirmed or refuted by evidence. The argument rests on two related contentions: First, unlike heterosexual couples, gay couples generally do not raise children, and, therefore, do not need the benefits of marriage. Second, to the extent that gays do raise children, they do the children harm. The 2000 U.S. Census showed that in California, half of married couples and one-third of gay couples are raising children. The data means that gay couples in California are raising more than 70,000 children. The American Academy of Pediatrics' Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health issued the most recent comprehensive review of gay-parenting studies in a 2002 report, which found no meaningful differences between children raised by gay parents and those raised by heterosexual parents.* The committee reviewed scientific literature encompassing three broad sets of studies. The first set assessed the attitudes, behavior and adjustments of gay parents. This set showed that lesbian mothers scored the same as heterosexual mothers in "self-esteem, psychological adjustment and attitudes toward child rearing. The second set of studies looked at gender identity and sexual orientation of children raised by gay parents. None of the several hundred children studied evidenced gender identity confusion, desired to be of the other sex or consistently engaged in cross-gender behavior. In addition, no differences were found in the toy, game, activity, dress or friendship preferences of boys or girls. The third research area covers the emotional and social development of children. Again, no differences were found in the personality measures, peer group relationships, self-esteem, behavioral difficulties, academic success or quality of family relationships. In the end, many more similarities than differences were found in each of the three sets of studies. The studies suggest only one meaningful difference: children of lesbian parents are more tolerant of diversity and more nurturing toward younger children than children whose parents are heterosexual. While gay parenting will further be studied, most objective observers find no reason to accept the notion that children need protection from gay parents. * See Ellen C. Perrin, Technical Report:
Coparent or Second-Parent Adoption by Same-Sex Parents,
Pediatrics 2002; 109: 341-344.
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