Homosexuality has been a sensitive subject in society for a long time, and in recent years, it has sparked both support and controversy in areas such as legalizing gay and lesbian marriage and various other matters that have arisen surrounding the movement towards equality of treatment and integration into society. One of these matters that has garnered attention is gay parenting. With some states now allowing same-sex marriage or unions, the next step being taken is starting a family. There has been wide speculation into sexual orientation and whether it has an impact on homosexuals and their abilities to be good parents. Because of this, many people have carried out detailed studies and research on this topic to determine whether this worry and concern is warranted. One such study was carried out producing results contrary to popular belief. Meezan and Rauch found that gay and lesbian parents are generally similar to heterosexual parents, and, when differences were seen, they normally favored the same-sex parents. It was also found that the children of same-sex parents were not “confused about their gender identity” and were not “more likely to be homosexual” (Meezan and Rauch 103). Their children were able to develop normally in all facets of life. In another study conducted by Charlotte Patterson, she questions if there is a noticeable difference seen in the development of children who were “reared by same-sex couples compared to other-sex couples” (241). Comparing the scores of children raised by lesbian mothers to the Child Behavior checklist revealed that they were within the average range for other American children. Based on the results, she determined that the development of the child depended more on the “quality o... ... middle of paper ... ...berg. “Gay and Lesbian Adoptive and Foster Care Placements: Can They Meet the Needs of Waiting Children?” Social Work 46:2 (Apr., 2001): 147-57 JSTOR. Web. 1 February 2012. Meezan, William and Jonathan Rauch. “Gay Marriage, Same-Sex Parenting, and America’s Children.” The Future of Children 15.2 (Autumn, 2005): 97-115 JSTOR. Web. 1 February 2012. Miller, Brian. “Gay Fathers and Their Children.” The Family Coordinator 28:4 (Oct., 1979): 544-52 JSTOR. Web. 1 February 2012. Patterson, Charlotte J. “Children of Lesbian and Gay Parents.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 15: 241 (2006): 241-244 JSTOR. Web. 1 February 2012. Stacey, Judith and Timothy J. Biblarz. “(How) Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?” American Sociological Review 66.2 (Apr., 2001): 159-83 JSTOR. Web. 1 February 2012.
Bos, H. M., Van Balen, F., & Van den Boom, D. C. (2007). Child adjustment and parenting in planned lesbian-parent families. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 77, 38-48. doi:
In today’s society, family structure has changed dramatically from the traditional nuclear family to the unconventional, such as single parenting or same sex families. Over the years, many individuals questioned whether or not a parent’s sexual orientation affected their child’s sexual preference. There is significant research that has shown that children with lesbian parents do not differ from children with heterosexual parents. Many individuals stated that it is the value of the parent’s relationship with the child and not the parent’s sexual orientation that affects the child’s development. Contrary to the popular belief, children raised by lesbian parents are not more likely to become gay than children who are raised by heterosexual parents. A parent’s sexual orientation has said to have little importance to children other than the family togetherness. In other words, the relationship of the parent and child is far greater important than the sexual orientation of one’s parents. To be a good parent to a child has nothing to do with one’s sexual preference, but how well one takes care of that child emotionally, physically, financially, and mentally. Before the 20th, century children were often seen as miniature versions of adults so there was little consideration to children development in cognitive and physical development. The interest of child development did not peak until the early 20th century. Conscientious parenting happens not only within traditional nuclear families, but also within homosexual families. Both traditional nuclear and homosexual families can have positive and negative effects on children’s cognitive, psychological or behavioral development due to their rearing.
In the article “Foster kids do equally well when adopted by gay, lesbian or heterosexual parents” by Stuart Wolpert, high risk children from foster care are taken care of really well by parents or couples regardless of gender and sexual orientation. In Los Angeles County, 82 high risk children were adopted by lesbian, gay and straight parents and went through cognitive assessment. The children’s IQ levels raised by ten points and behavior remained stable. The children from birth had faced neglect, prenatal substances, and premature births, but their social development skills were stable after adoption. There are concerns regarding homosexual parents adopting children because in society a man and woman are the sole parents not two men and women.
Although sixteen states have legalized same-sex marriage, the idea of same-sex parenting remains a controversial topic in America. As American families continue to vary from the traditional heterosexual husband and wife headed families, developmental differences among the children reared by two lesbians or two gay men pique the interest of both the public and developmental psychologists. Perhaps children raised by two mothers or two fathers will exhibit much different gender role behaviors and identify differently with their gender than children reared by heterosexual parents. By observing children raised by different parental groups the possible differences, and subsequent benefits, in gender identity and sex roles can be discerned.
Perrin, Ellen C., and Benjamin S. Siegel. "Promoting the Well-Being of Children Whose Parents Are Gay or Lesbian." Pediatrics 131.4 (2013): 1374-383. PDF file.
Another concern is that if homosexual parents get another child of their same gender that the child will be sexually abused but same sex parents view their children in the same way heterosexual ones do. The risk is no higher than with heterosexual parents. Another argument is that the child will not develop right psychologically but to say this is saying that homosexuality is a mental disorder which according to the DSM- V it is not (Reekers 343). It is a possibility that some of these studies that support same sex parenting are flawed because they are so new. Same sex marriage ten to fifteen years ago wasn’t as prevalent as it is today. There are very few studies and it is hard to get parents to agree for psychologist to pry into their private lives for something that may or may not be proven (Meezan 97).
The emergence of gays and lesbians from the shadows of perceived deviancy has led to the formation of civil unions and in an increasingly number of states, marriage. As society has become more open and accepting of homosexuals, an increased number of gay men and women have “come out” of the proverbial closet. These closeted individuals may have previously been married in heterosexual unions and produced offspring prior to freeing themselves of fear and societal constraints. This gives rise to a new interpretation of the blended family. The gay and lesbian blended family. Many gays and lesbians have opted to cohabitate as a family unit merging the heterosexual and homosexual familial entity. Despite the controversies, gays and lesbians with children are becoming more and more a part of the American family landscape. Increasingly, there are blended families with two moms or two dads. During the past decade, the number of same-sex households “grew significantly” in 10 states for which figures have been released: more than 700 percent in Delaware and Nevada; more than 400 percent in Vermont, Indiana, Louisiana and Nebraska; and more than 200 percent in Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts and
One of the many issues that homophobic people have against homosexuals is that being brought up in an “untraditional” home is not good for the children. There have...
Not so long ago in United States family was defined as; a couple, a man and a woman with children. Times have changed. Today, people are moving away from this definition and now going for a modern description of what family refers to. From divorced parents, single par-ents, no children families, and gay parents they are all now included to this new definition. Ac-cording to the national census bureau “A family consists of two or more people (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption residing in the same housing unit” (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Like everything in life family is changing. The percentage of non-traditional family is growing more and more. As mention before homosexual families are big parts of this evolution. But many wonder; what is parenthood? How are homosexual families different from traditional families? And how different countries look at homosexual families?
What I can say is that everything I’ve read shows positive results in favor of same-sex parents and to me it doesn’t really matter if children have same-sex parents or opposite-sex parents when it comes to getting good grades in school. When factoring in that same-sex parents cannot conceive together, these children arrive by varying routes and it’s difficult to say whether or not the sex of the parents, rather than the way the child was raised prior, can attribute to grades of the child. The numbers and statistics are just not available but I hope in the future I can revisit this study and determine whether or not my hypothesis can be proven or disproven. I have to sets of friends that are same-sex parents and their children are getting either straight A’s or A’s and B’s. My child, who was raised by to biological parents, is getting A’s, B’s, and C’s. So with my even smaller sampling of actual data, I found that, in this small case, it’s the child that performs the work to get the good grades and not so much the parents’ sexual orientation. Again this is a very small sampling of data and doesn’t prove or disprove my
The argument sexual orientation interferes with ones parenting skills is common belief that Charlotte J. Patterson identifies as myth in her work, Lesbian and Gay Parents and their Children, suggesting the belief that “lesbians’ and gay men’s relationships with sexual partners leave little time for ongoing parent–child interactions.” In the Who is Mommy tonight? case study, how 18 lesbian adoptive parents, 49 lesbian parents who formed their families biologically, and 44 heterosexual adoptive parents experience and perceive their parenting role, how they respond when their children seek them or their partner for particular nurturing, and how the parents negotiate the cultural expectation of a primary caregiver (Ciano-Boyce & Shelley-Sireci, 2002) is looked at. The empirical data found proposes lesbian parent couples were more equ...
Patterson, C. J. (1992). Children of lesbian and gay parents. Society for Research in Child Development, 63(5), 1025-1042. doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.ep9301201145
Scientific studies have shown that children who grow up in one or two-parent gay or lesbian households fare just as well emotionally and socially as children whose parents are heterosexual. Studies have shown that children are more influenced by their interactions with their parents, than by their sexual orientation. (Kathy Belge, 2014)
Since the 1970s, studies on the effect of same-sex parenting on children have been conducted in the United States. Sociological debates have occurred from the idea of allowing same-sex couples to parent. Some groups feel that allowing this would undermine the traditional ideology of marriage and skew the perception of gender roles for their children. Sociologists continue to produce empirical research that studies samples of the approximately 125,000 same-sex couples raising nearly 220,000 children and comparing their roles as parents and the adult personalities of their children to children raised by heterosexual couples. Current scientific research comparing the outcomes of children raised by gay or lesbian parents with children of heterosexual parents consistently shows that same-sex parents are just as capable of raising “psychologically healthy and well-adjusted” children as heterosexual parents. Research comparing children raised by same-sex couples and heterosexual couples found no differences in the adjustment or mental health of these children as adults.
There indicators of child developmental outcomes were categorized into parent and child relationship quality, children’s cognitive development, children’s gender role behavior, children’s gender identity, children’s sexual preference, and children’s social and emotional development. There analysis showed that children with same-sex parents fared equally to children raised by heterosexual parents when comparing developmental outcomes. Same-sex parents also reported a significantly better relationship with their children than heterosexual parents, which was measured by the parent or child perception of the quality of their relationship. This goes back to the argument that parent sexuality has no impact on the child but rather the relationship between the parent and the child has is the most impactful. In Crowl, Ahn and Baker (2008) meta-analysis study also found that the parent sexual orientation had no effect on gender identity, cognitive development, psychological adjustment, and sexual