I've been doing some research.

from Clinical/Therapeutic Issues

Gay Parenting Does Affect Children Differently, Study Finds
-- Authors Believe Gay Parents Have "Some Advantages"
Taking issue with 20 years of research conclusions that say there are no differences, two University of California sociologists recently re-examined data from 21 studies on gay parenting dating back to 1980.

The new study by two University of Southern California sociologists says children with lesbian or gay parents show more empathy for social diversity, are less confined by gender stereotypes, and are probably more likely to explore homosexual activity themselves. Writing in recent issue of the American Sociological Review, the authors say that the emotional health of the two sets of children is essentially the same.

Leaders of national gay-affirming groups said they welcomed the article, according to an Associated Press story. "I'm thrilled that they're tackling these issues," said Aimee Gelnaw, executive director of the Family Pride Coalition, who is a lesbian parent raising two children with her partner. "Of course our kids are going to be different," Gelnaw said. "They're growing up in a different social context."

Openness to Gay Relationships
Met With "Elation"

Kate Kendall, head of the San Francisco-based National Center for Lesbian Rights, also is raising two children with her partner. "There's only one response to a study that children raised by lesbian and gay parents may be somewhat more likely to reject notions of rigid sexual orientation -- that response has to be elation," Kendall said.

But Amy Desai, a policy analyst with the group Focus on the Family, said the new report is alarming in its suggestions that children of gay parents might be more open to homosexual activity. "Kids do best when they have a married mother and a married father," she said.

A Home With No Dad is Better?

The study's co-author, Judith Stacey, is a professor of contemporary gender studies. In addition to pointing out the gender differences in the two groups of children, she states that there are in fact some advantages to an all-female parental team without Dad living in the home: a female couple tends to be more involved in the children's lives and is in greater harmony in terms of parenting approaches.

Among the findings cited by the authors:


1. Compared to the daughters of heterosexual mothers, the daughters of lesbians more frequently dress, play and behave in ways that do not conform to sex-typed cultural norms. They show greater interest in activities with both masculine and feminine qualities. They have higher aspirations to occupations that are not traditionally female.


2. In terms of aggression and play, sons of lesbians behave in less traditionally masculine ways. They are likely to be more nurturing and affectionate than their counterparts in heterosexual families.


3. One study examined by the researchers indicated that a significantly greater proportion of young adult children raised by lesbians had engaged in a same-sex relationship (six of 25 interviewed) than those raised by a heterosexual mother (none of 20 interviewed).


4. Those raised by lesbian mothers were also more likely to consider a homosexual relationship.


5. Teen-age and young adult girls raised by lesbian mothers appear to be more sexually adventurous and less chaste than girls raised by heterosexual mothers. Sons, on the other hand, were somewhat less sexually adventurous and more chaste than boys raised by heterosexuals.


6. The studies indicate that sexual orientation has no measurable effect on the quality of parent-child relationships or on the mental health of children.


"These studies find no significant differences between children of lesbian and heterosexual mothers in anxiety, depression, self-esteem and numerous other measures of social and psychological adjustment," said the authors.


NARTH"s Joseph Nicolosi offered the following comments: "This paper was authored by a professor of gender studies, so it is not surprisingly that the differences on which she focused have to do with a rejection of gender conformity. Indeed, what she found makes sense -- lesbian mothers tend to have a feminizing effect on their sons, and a masculinizing effect on their daughters.


"But the question is, are these differences healthy? More research is needed to understand how a rejection of conventional gender roles can have not just a healthy and expansive, but also a constricting and negative effect on identity and psychological health.


"And despite what many gender researchers claim, research tells us that the absence of a father in the home is not, on balance, good for families."



(Source: The Los Angeles Times, "Professors Take Issue With Gay-Parenting Research," April 27, 2001, and "Report: Kids of Gays More Empathetic," by David Crary, National Writer, Associated Press)


(linke for this article)

It is difficult to argue this issue without beinging in religious beliefs. I thought the brief points made at the end from a pro-traditional family perspective were interesting. It definetly struck me how many of the findings in this article were portrayed as postive- while I found them very negative.

Ultimatly all the points show that children raised in such an environment will move towards and promote similar lifestyles. While they make it seem that this is a good thing because "The studies indicate that sexual orientation has no measurable effect on the quality of parent-child relationships or on the mental health of children", but the problem is that this promotes a lifestyle mimicking a "family" where if such behaviors persist a family is not permitted. I'm sorry- but it comes down to my Christian faith. There is a reason why man/man and women/women relationships do not result in children. God created it that way. This is Satan's subtle ploy to slow/hault God sending more spirits to this earth to receive bodies. I also believe that Satan knows that if he can get one alternative definition of marriage accepted, that there will soon be many more. If we say that marriage is simply a declaration of love can't a pedifile than say, "Well who cares that I'm 50 and she's only 16. We love each other." Wouldn't incestual crimes come forth and say, "but we love each other!". You may say this is a slippery slope argument- but the fact of the matter is that gay and lesbian behaviors were not long ago recognized as just as wrognful acts as these. When we begin to say, "its their choice" we begin to say that society can impose NO NORMS.

Another interesting article on the studies being done in connection to such topics:

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2002/olrdata/jud/rpt/2002-R-0879.htm