Homosexual Parents: Does It Influence the Sexual Orientation of Their Kids

1347 Words3 Pages

Homosexual Parents: Does the Parents’ Sexual Orientation Affect the Kids? Society in many instances does not fully support or understand homosexual issues. The homosexual community is a valid part of the social community that has been excluded and marginalized for many years. With the continued ostracism of the homosexual community misconception, myth, and prejudice continue to exist concerning homosexuality. However, recently a new series of laws in the United States have pushed gay issues to the forefront of societal concerns. The implementation of legalized same-sex marriage by the federal government and some states in the United States has caused the public to ask many new questions about the effects of the laws and the related issues. One of the questions raised is whether or not children raised by homosexual parents grow up to be any different than children raised by heterosexual parents. Today’s media have flocked to all sides of the issue. CNN online journalist Jennifer Chrisler makes the claim that there is no difference in the outcome of children whether he/she was raised by heterosexual parents or homosexual parents in her article, Why gay parents are good parents (Chrisler, 2010). In Chrisler’s article, she self-describes herself as being biased due to her sexual orientation: being a lesbian (Chrisler, 2010). Her article additionally provides no strictly empirical support for her claim that there is no difference in the outcome of children raised by homosexual or heterosexual parents. In order to sort out whether her claim is scientifically accurate or not research on this subject must be examined because scientific accredited research in the field of homosexuality and related issues is relatively limited and novel... ... middle of paper ... ...ing sources while the 2008 study has not been as controversial or criticized and used clearer methodology. Based on the 2008 studies few limitations and general acceptance and accreditation by the scientific community I would conclude that there are no significant differences between the outcomes of children of heterosexual or homosexual parents. References Chrisler, J. (2010, June 24). Why gay parents are good parents. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/06/24/chrisler.gay.parents/ Crowl, A., Soyeon, A., & Baker, J. (2008). A meta-analysis of developmental outcomes for children of same-sex and heterosexual parents. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 4(3), 385-407. Regnerus, M. (2012). How different are the adult children of parents who have same-sex relationships? Finding from the New Family Structures Study. Social Science Research, 41(4), 752-770.

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