Same-sex parenting not benign

Some people have the mistaken view children will not be harmed by same-sex parenting. Evidence to the contrary can be gleaned from a mega-analysis: conducted by Judith Stacey and Timothy J. Biblarz: "(How) Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?" American Sociological Review, April 2001.

This analysis states that parental sexual orientation is positively associated with the possibility that children will be more likely to attain a similar orientation. Harm arising from children attaining a same-sex orientation includes being subjected to ridicule and persecution by their peers. It also states that mothers tend to be more invested in and skilled at child care than fathers.

Long-term harm may result from same-sex parenting because the mega-analysis states that "parental gender and sexual identities interact to create distinctive family processes whose consequences for children have yet to be studied." Finally, common sense says that children raised in a good heterosexual home will be happier than children raised in a homosexual home.

David Richardson

Salt Lake City