Gay Rights

The Kids are Alright: New Studies Prove Same-Sex Parents Rock

by Maia Spotts

category: LGBT Parenting

Published November 17, 2009 @ 08:13AM PT

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Having finally accepted the fact that good Christian heterosexuals sometimes produce gay offspring (I'm talking to you, Cheney), the world must now face another social science truth: gay parents are perfectly capable of producing happy, well-adjusted, predominantly heterosexual kids. A new book by psychologist Abbie E. Goldberg, PhD., reveals that (spoiler alert!) same-sex parents don't totally mess up their kids.

In fact, studies show that  girls raised by same-sex parents are more likely to want to be doctors and lawyers (30 percent more aspire to such jobs than their mom-and-dad-raised counterparts), while boys--well, boys still feel they can be anything they want. Lesbian mothers (the data on gay dads is currently limited) raise kids who play with both dolls and trucks and, in general, ignore all those years of social conditioning regarding gender roles.

Disappointingly for the Religious Right, this new scientific data doesn't exactly support the dearly-held notion that gay begets gay (but then again they've never been great fans of scientific findings). And it does nothing to further the theories that children of same-sex parents are saddled with psychological problems stemming from years of molestation and lonely high school lunches.

Focus on the Family, in its Talking Points (Adoption), makes a number of claims that it might have to reconsider. For example, "Proper child development requires that children have daily access to the different and complementary ways mothers and fathers parent." And unfounded points like "Children raised in mother-only homes often suffer harmful consequences" prove that this oh-so-helpful guide needs to be reworked in order to be not so ... totally ass backwards.

But don't completely despair, Religious Right. The recent research does prove one of your main beliefs: gay marriage is a threat to the traditional family structure. Because we now know that when one mom goes to work, takes out the trash, and cooks dinner, and the other mom fixes the car, does the laundry, and coaches soccer, their kids learn that their own potential has nothing to do with gender, or sexuality.

So could it be that children actually benefit from having gay parents? And if heterosexual families start following suit, living a less gender-dictated life, well then what happens? If we, gay and straight alike, shrug off the influence of gender stereotypes, don't we emerge as more authentic versions of ourselves? How bad can that be?

I guess the answer is "pretty bad" if you believe that marriage is the "cornerstone of our society." Because there's been a lot of time and energy and money spent in its defense -- and with that the defense of some gender distinctions deeply steeped in American history. With these recent findings, however, the fact that successful same-sex couples can rear successful, happy kids can no longer be denied.

And if, in fact, the kids are alright, then what exactly is being defended?

(Photo courtesy of nerdcoregirl's photostream on Flickr)