Gay parents are at least as good as straight parents.

[misanthropic_clown]

I say let's let people do what we want until there IS enough research to come to a conclusion. I understand that we want what's best for children, but when we don't know what that means, isn't it OK to focus on what we DO know? That children need love, and they should be in the most stable and loving families possible (within legal boundaries, of course).

Agreed. I would say that the research reflects that most (if not all) concerns about there being significant effects on the child being raised by same-sex parents are unfounded. Same-sex parents don't produce depraived and criminal children (at least not at a rate higher than their straight counterparts), which means the more offensive claims on the topic are certainly dispelled as myths.

However, I do not think we can ever be at a stage where we can have enough research to be certain. I don't think the research can be as refined as is necessary to be all that compelling given that we can't be particularly clinical about the whole thing. Thus to claim there is a possibility that straight parents raise children in a slightly better way, though still an unfounded assertion, has not really been proven false. Likewise we cannot eliminate the possibility that same-sex parents do a slightly better job.

 

[Autodidact]

Thanks for all of your reasonable responses. Too bad no one who actually makes this assertion had the integrity to show up and try to defend it. Somehow I think that random is right, and they will continue to made such assertions nonetheless.

As for the uncertainty aspect, ell, we don't have any research to establish that Mormon parents do an acceptable job of raising children, but we don't deny them the right to either marry or adopt, do we?

 

[DallasApple]

Thanks for all of your reasonable responses. Too bad no one who actually makes this assertion had the integrity to show up and try to defend it. Somehow I think that random is right, and they will continue to made such assertions nonetheless.

As for the uncertainty aspect, ell, we don't have any research to establish that Mormon parents do an acceptable job of raising children, but we don't deny them the right to either marry or adopt, do we?

I have "felt" this for a while...

Its hopeless...

Remember the term "digging your heals in the sand"??? Some dig for the sake of digging..And they get stuck there...

Love

Dallas

 

[England my lionheart]

I'm really sick and tired of people around here slandering us gay parents, by saying that we do not do as good a job as straight parents. This thread is to give you a chance to bring forward your evidence that this is the case. Not your biased, bigoted, opinion, based on neither research not actual personal experience with gay families, but your quality, sound, unbiased research, using sound methodology, that shows this to be the case. I would also be interested in your personal experience with gay and lesbian families, as compared to straight families. I in my turn will be happy to do the same. When I get done showing you that the overwhelming evidence supports my assertion that gay parents do at least as good a job as straight parents, I hope never again to hear this slander from you lying bigots, casting dishonest aspersions on us hardworking gay parents. Go for it.

I am going to a gay wedding in a weeks time and have known the two ladies for some time,they both had children from a Hetro marriage.
One of the girls went to live with her father because she did'nt like the nature of her mothers relationship but this could equally happen in a Hetro same scenario.
They both seem good parents but the children are all girls so i am not sure how a boy would cope with two Mums(i've had to deal with a wife and Daughter and that was hard enough) as i do believe boys benefit from having a father.
However there are some single Mums who take their Sons to Football practice and their kids seem ok.

 

[Ozzie]

In an ideal world, everyone would know exactly the best courses of action to follow.

Children don't get to choose the circunstances of their births, and there is convincing evidence that they can't even conceive of having other parents until quite a few years of age.

So it seems to me that you're just expressing wishful thinking.

The wishful thinking your referring to is the biological status quo. If technology or legal instruments make other combinations an alternative, all well and good if the research suggests no difference in outcomes for children. I'm prepared to accept that. We have to be careful who is doing the research, and what motivates it etc. Just because any child can be conceived as a blank slate, does not mean any parenting combination is superior or equal or anything else for that matter because individual circumstances apply to each blank slate. I'm cautious about broad statements as made in the OP because the interests of the parents are paramount, not those of the blank slate.

 

[emiliano]

Agreed. I would say that the research reflects that most (if not all) concerns about there being significant effects on the child being raised by same-sex parents are unfounded. Same-sex parents don't produce depraived and criminal children (at least not at a rate higher than their straight counterparts), which means the more offensive claims on the topic are certainly dispelled as myths.

However, I do not think we can ever be at a stage where we can have enough research to be certain. I don't think the research can be as refined as is necessary to be all that compelling given that we can't be particularly clinical about the whole thing. Thus to claim there is a possibility that straight parents raise children in a slightly better way, though still an unfounded assertion, has not really been proven false. Likewise we cannot eliminate the possibility that same-sex parents do a slightly better job.

You can't have it both ways, mate. if there is not enough information, on what do you based your assertion “Likewise we cannot eliminate the possibility that same-sex parents do a slightly better job” I stand by what I said early in my participation “we just don’t know” Autodidact has this tendency to make statements that she can’t support, yet she presented research that she claim support her position.

 

[misanthropic_clown]

You can't have it both ways, mate. if there is not enough information, on what do you based your assertion “Likewise we cannot eliminate the possibility that same-sex parents do a slightly better job” I stand by what I said early in my participation “we just don’t know” Autodidact has this tendency to make statements that she can’t support, yet she presented research that she claim support her position.

What I was saying is that I felt autodidact was incorrect in stating that the assertion that gay parents do a worse job (to a small degree at least) had been proven to be outright false, because I do not feel the research is (or indeed can ever be) refined enough to give a clear picture of parental performance. Thus, I would say it is simply an assertion - an unfounded statement - because it has not been disproved. However, if I am going to claim uncertainty, that uncertainty has to go both ways. In this respect, saying that homosexual parents perform better would be an equally valid assertion. I don't think we have much in the way of proof to support either stance (better or worse).

What has been disproved is the notion that same-sex parents perform worse to any significant degree, which I never really believed to be the case anyway.

 

[Autodidact]

You can't have it both ways, mate. if there is not enough information, on what do you based your assertion “Likewise we cannot eliminate the possibility that same-sex parents do a slightly better job” I stand by what I said early in my participation “we just don’t know” Autodidact has this tendency to make statements that she can’t support, yet she presented research that she claim support her position.

Well if you never look at the research that I present to you, then you never see that the evidence in fact strongly supports my assertion, which is why every child welfare organization in the U.S. considers the matter settled. It's because, unlike you, they actually looked at the evidence.

 

[Autodidact]

There's no evidence whatsoever to support the positive assertion that gay parents are in any way less well-qualified to parent, and lots of evidence to say they are, so why is the default position holding off--do we do that to any other group of parents? There's no evidence that Christians parent as well as non-Christians, should we hold off on letting them parent? Isn't the default position equal rights?

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

There's no evidence whatsoever to support the positive assertion that gay parents are in any way less well-qualified to parent, and lots of evidence to say they are, so why is the default position holding off--do we do that to any other group of parents? There's no evidence that Christians parent as well as non-Christians, should we hold off on letting them parent? Isn't the default position equal rights?

Now that you bring up the issue... it strikes me that I haven't heard of a single study that compares the parenting abilities of Christian Republicans against those of the general population. How can we know if their parenting abilities are up to snuff?