{"id":17165,"date":"2019-05-15T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak?p=17165"},"modified":"2019-05-13T13:32:24","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T08:02:24","slug":"in-families-with-same-sex-parents-the-kids-are-all-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/in-families-with-same-sex-parents-the-kids-are-all-right\/","title":{"rendered":"In Families With Same-Sex Parents, The Kids Are All Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

A central argument made\u00a0against same-sex marriage<\/a>\u00a0is that children born into these marriages will be disadvantaged: they will grow up with inappropriate gender role modelling, be bullied at school and suffer poorer emotional well-being than their peers.<\/p>\n

Same-sex attracted people\u00a0may come to parenthood in many ways<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 though former heterosexual relationships, as a foster parent or a step parent. Increasingly, lesbian couples and single women are forming families using known sperm donors (a friend of the couple) or a clinic-sourced anonymous donor. Male couples are also increasingly turning to egg donation and surrogacy services to become parents.<\/p>\n

The\u00a02011 Australian Census<\/a>\u00a0counted 33,714 same-sex couples. Around 4,000 of these couples had dependent children living with them. But this is likely to be an under-representation, as not all same-sex attracted people declare their relationship in the census and single parents who identify as same-sex attracted would not be identified.<\/p>\n

In the\u00a0United States<\/a>, of the 594,000 same-sex couple households in 2011, 115,000 reported having children.<\/p>\n

People may not agree with gay marriage on moral or religious grounds. But the argument that it harms children does not stack up against current evidence.<\/p>\n

In 2010, American researchers published\u00a0results from a meta-analysis<\/a>\u00a0of 33 studies comparing the well-being of children raised by opposite-sex couples with children raised by same-sex couples. This study found no evidence that children raised by same-sex parents fared any worse than other children on a range of behavioural, educational, emotional or social outcomes.<\/p>\n

The researchers also concluded there was no evidence that children raised by a single parent or same-sex couples were less competent or well-rounded than other children. If anything,\u00a0studies of single-parent families<\/a>\u00a0show these men and women are more flexible in their parenting styles than they are given credit for. Men are capable of gentle, nurturing parenting. Women are capable of setting rules and boundaries for children, while also teaching them football.<\/p>\n

What about donor-conceived children?<\/h2>\n

Political concerns about\u00a0lesbians\u2019 access to fertility services<\/a>\u00a0means the well-being of donor-conceived children has entered debates about same-sex marriage and parenting.<\/p>\n

In 2013, the\u00a0story of Narelle Grech<\/a>, a young Australian woman who had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, hit the news media. Grech was donor-conceived and desperately wanted to meet her biological father before she died.<\/p>\n

Grech\u2019s story made a powerful statement about the importance of donor-conceived children having the option to know their genetic heritage. But media reports often gave the impression that every donor-conceived child was searching sadly for their genetic parent.<\/p>\n

This is\u00a0not the case<\/a>. Some donor-conceived children are highly driven to meet donor parents, some are curious and others aren\u2019t interested. There is\u00a0no evidence<\/a>\u00a0that donor-conception causes children emotional or social damage.<\/p>\n

Do children get teased at school?<\/h2>\n

A\u00a02008 study<\/a>\u00a0by the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN) in the United States found many children raised by same-sex parents had experienced or witnessed some form of homophobic harassment at school.<\/p>\n

But more commonly, young people reported feeling excluded or isolated because schools did not acknowledge their family makeup. In some cases, staff actively discouraged students from speaking about their families due to a misguided concern that this amounted to talking about sex or sexuality in the classroom.<\/p>\n

Other studies have found more mixed results.<\/p>\n

Australian research<\/a>\u00a0has shown that some children worry they will experience homophobic discrimination and this anxiety may affect their well-being. But\u00a0most children with same-sex parents<\/a>\u00a0do not encounter more frequent or intense schoolyard bullying than other children.<\/p>\n

Additionally, children with same-sex parents generally have good social networks and peer relationships, which are a strong buffer against stigma or discrimination.<\/p>\n

Is this research reliable?<\/h2>\n

Studies on the well-being of children raised by same-sex parents have been\u00a0criticised<\/a>\u00a0because most rely on small \u201cconvenience<\/a>\u201d samples. Critics argue convenience sampling is inherently unreliable because people who are healthy and resourceful are more likely to opt in to studies than those who are socially disconnected or less capable.<\/p>\n

However, large population-based studies tend to include only a small sub-sample of children raised by same-sex parents. This doesn\u2019t generate the numbers needed for reliable statistical analysis.<\/p>\n

Methodological limitations provide fuel for conservative arguments against the validity of these studies. What critics do not acknowledge is that\u00a0repetition of findings<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 numerous studies conducted over time and in various locations, all which show children with same-sex parents are doing well \u2013 is a major strength of this body of research.<\/p>\n

What about same-sex marriage?<\/h2>\n

Children raised by same-sex parents\u00a0do better when<\/a>\u00a0they are living in a city or country that is more socially progressive and accepting of homosexuality. As such, openly supporting the rights of same-sex couples is one of the best things governments can do to support children being raised by same-sex parents.<\/p>\n

Beyond this, funding programs such as the\u00a0Safe-Schools coalition<\/a>Australia, which seeks to ensure schools are well-equipped to address homophobia, will have a direct impact on the day-to-day experiences of children with same-sex parents.<\/p>\n

This article was originally published here<\/a><\/p>\n

Cover Image: by\u00a0nerdcoregirl<\/a>\u00a0is licensed under\u00a0CC BY-SA 2.0\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The researchers also concluded there was no evidence that children raised by a single parent or same-sex couples were less competent or well-rounded than other children. If anything,\u00a0studies of single-parent families\u00a0show these men and women are more flexible in their parenting styles than they are given credit for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":17167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,1,1990],"tags":[540,1274,392,2002,25],"class_list":{"0":"post-17165","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog-roll","8":"category-categories","9":"category-diversity-and-sexuality","10":"tag-diversity","11":"tag-lgbtq","12":"tag-parenting","13":"tag-same-sex-parents","14":"tag-sexualities"},"menu_order":562,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17165"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17189,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17165\/revisions\/17189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarshi.net\/inplainspeak\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}