An argument in favor of gay couple raising a child

Family What defines a family? The portrait of the American family circa starts where it always has—with mom, pop and the kids. But the family album now also includes other ensembles.

Growing up under the Rainbow: They give you all the faults they had, and add some new ones just for you. During this time, lesbian mothers lost custody of their children because of the court's belief that the sexual orientation of the parent could inhibit the children's social and emotional development as fostered between the contexts of parent-child relationships Golombok et al, Agreeing with the philosophy that parents exercise a considerable influence upon the basic values, morals, and achievement aspirations of their children, judges transferred child custody to heterosexual parents for fear of exposing children to homosexual lifestyles Hill, Issues of gay parent custody and gay adoption have continued to spark debates over whether the sexual orientation of parents affects the ethical, mental, emotional, and cognitive development of children and adolescents.

Gay Marriage Pros and Cons

However, acknowledging the high political stakes in the presentation of such research, some argue that studies in favor of gay parenthood are ideologically biased, overly defensive, and in favor of gay rights. In the last decade, psychologists have attempted to rethink the idea of "no difference," searching for potential beneficial effects children may derive from growing up in same-sex households.

Relying on research completed and published in recent psychological and sociological journals, I plan to review current debates regarding the effects of lesbian and gay parenthood on child development.

Initially, this will involve providing an overview of the two sides of the debate which involve themes in the literature that either suggest significant or insignificant differences between children of homosexual and heterosexual parents and that homosexual parenting is either detrimental or harmless to child development.

This field of research has moved from suggesting there is a negative impact, to no difference, and recently to beliefs of an influential, but not necessarily negative impact. By comparing and contrasting these views, I will establish not only the fundamental differences between the perspectives, but also expand on the issues these authors are failing to consider when developing their arguments.

The concluding section of this paper will consider how a less polarized approach to the data found by researchers on both sides of the debate could lend insight into how parental and societal relationships are influential in child and adolescent development.

Here's how living with an unmarried partner affects child custody decisions.

In order to avoid the potential flaws of a convenience or voluntary sample, Golombok et. This study attempted to find whether previous conclusions regarding "no difference" in child development were replicated within the larger population, and to compare these new findings with those of heterosexual parents.

The results of this research concurred with previous findings that suggest that no significant difference in child development and parenting styles exists between lesbian and heterosexual families.

Although lesbian mothers reported engaging less in physical discipline and more in "imaginative and domestic play" than heterosexual parents, the children reared in lesbian households demonstrated no significant difference in psychiatric disorder from those in heterosexual households.

The Top Arguments for and Against Same-Sex Marriage at the Supreme Court | HuffPost

Lesbian mothers did report that their children had greater peer problems; however, these claims proved to me a nonsignificant trend. Moreover, children raised in lesbian families did not report more peer problems than children with heterosexual parents. No differences were found in reference to gender development and gender typed behavior.

Although contemporary scholarship on the negative effects of parental sexual orientation on child development is rare, psychologists Paul and Kirk Cameron have been instrumental in publishing works that suggest homosexuals are unfit parents who hamper children's psychological and emotional growth.

In a article, the authors challenge the bulk of scholarship completed on case studies and argue that these works conclude unreliable information from small, unrepresentative samples. By contrast, Cameron and Cameron's study is the largest comparison of heterosexual and homosexual parents.

Their 40 cases were compared with a randomly generated sample or 40 heterosexual vs.

Woman: I Was Raised by Two Lesbians, and I’m Against “Gay Marriage”	Then in Januarysame-sex marriage was legalized. Before marriage equality, same-sex couples in Florida looking to both become the parents of their child had to do something called a second parent adoption.
Adopting Children	Check new design of our homepage! Gay Marriage Pros and Cons Marriage is a sacred union of two individuals who love each other, but this statement becomes controversial when it comes to gay marriages.
Contact Us	In a forum http:

Cameron and Cameron argue for a method of research that involves systematically analyzing appeals court cases or cases cited in appeals court cases regarding the custody of children in which a homosexual parent was involved, and comparing them in the same manner with a random sample of heterosexual vs.

It is necessary to note, however, that Cameron and Cameron categorized affectionate behavior between partners in front of children as harmful or detrimental exposure to sexual deviance.The AAP doesn’t explicitly endorse a gay couple adopting a child from outside their home.

Instead, it says, “Children who are born to or adopted by 1 member of a same-sex couple deserve the. Common Argument #1: Gay marriage harms the institution of traditional marriage.

An estimated 16, same-sex couples are raising more than 22, adopted children in the U.S., and these.

IV: Family

Nov 06,  · Not every gay couple that is married, or aspiring to marry, has children, but an increasing number do: approximately 1 in 5 male same-sex couples and 1 in 3 female same-sex couples are raising children, up from 1 in 20 male couples and 1 in 5 female couples in Feb 01,  · Zach Wahls, a year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives.

In decades past, legal marriages for gay couples might have struck many people as unusual, he said, but not today. The best clue to the outcome may be seen in the court's recent actions. The current material and research regarding the effects of gay parenting on child development has had a tendency to marginalize any potential differences in child development with heterosexual and homosexual parents in an effort to avoid the political dangers of perceived differences.