Same-Sex Families

It seems that in having put off writing this blog, it is now partially topical with the current debate in New South Wales parliament surrounding gay couples' right to adopt.

In case you haven't already guessed, what I want to explore today is the idea of homosexual verses heterosexual parenting, an issue, which, despite my own sexuality, I have often pondered. So after tireless hours, and dozens of psychology journals, I bring you what I hope will be an insightful perspective on same-sex parented families.

Firstly, it is important to consider that there are many limitations looking into so-called "gay families". For this reason you will notice that much of the research relates to families with two mothers as opposed to two fathers (the former being a more legal and viable option at the present time). Thus, please do not assume this is my personal bias, I have tried to include as much information here as possible.

1 in 5 lesbian women and 1 in 10 gay men in the US describe themselves as a parent (very few reliable Australian statistics exist, though I doubt we have less gay parents, more likely an ardent hate of math!).

Just as with heterosexual families however, homosexual families come in a wide variety of types, including single parents (I myself come from a single parent family). Research since the mid-1980's (Golombok S, Spencer A & Rutter M, 1983) has consistently found that parents' sexual orientation does not correlate with changes in children's behavior or social relationships, when looking at single mothers, either homosexual or heterosexual. Moreover, those who had grown up with lesbian mothers (single or otherwise) failed to show any increased likelihood of being homosexual themselves (Tasker FL & Golombok S, 1997).

On a similar topic, Wolf and Mikach (1995) interviewed 75 sons from same-sex families with two gay fathers and found only 9% identified as gay or bisexual (estimates of those with in the general population who identify as gay or bisexual vary from 4-17%).

A study into adolescent health in the United States in 2008 (Udry JR, Bearman PS & Harris KM.) comparing 46 matched pairs of homosexual/heterosexual families found that adolescents in same-sex parented families (average age of 15) were no more or less likely to be romantically involved or show substance abuse or delinquency than their counterparts brought up in heterosexual families.

Consistently, what seems to affect children's social adjustment and behavior most is the warmth and quality of their relationships with their parents, biological or otherwise - gender and sexual orientation aside (ChanRW, Raboy B & Patterson CJ, 1998). This is one effect that I'm sure we have all observed in life, unfortunately abusive and neglectful parents rarely bring up extroverted, conscientious children.

Last but not least, another area which I am hesitant to explore but feel I should mention, is gender roles and gender identity which, while not as widely researched, have not, as of yet, been proven to be influenced by parental gender (Green, Mandel, Hotvedt, Gray, & Smith, 1986) though these roles have only been researched with reference to favorite games, toys and television shows (which, in my eyes, are very subjective measures, as you all know I'm not a huge fan of gender binaries in the first place!).

If anything, what recent research is indicating is that having gay parents may actually be beneficial. Research surrounding the longest running study on same-sex families (the National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study) which has been running since 1986, suggests that children brought up by two mothers are, on average, more intelligent and more socially well-equipped. The children who were tested were aged 17 and compared with a control group born to heterosexual parents from a similar socioeconomic and educational background.

And so as I leave you today, I urge you to speak up in favor of same-sex families, because we deserve the right to 2.5 children and a white picket fence as much as our heterosexual counter parts.
Gay rights are human rights.
This is Zee, signing out.