User:MishMich/LGBT parents

The American Psychological Association states: "there is no evidence to suggest that lesbian women or gay men are unfit to be parents or that psychosocial development among children of lesbian women or gay men is compromised relative to that among offspring of heterosexual parents". They state that there are no studies that have found lesbian or gay parent's children disadvantaged compared to those of heterosexuals: "the evidence to date suggests that home environments provided by lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to support and enable children's psychosocial growth". They explain that more research is needed in this area, because more research has been focused on lesbian rather than gay male gay parents; they also explain that more research is needed on children in such families during adolescence, as well as longitudinal studies. Acknowledging that "a considerable amount of information is available", the APA suggests that further research would help inform understanding of lesbian and gay parenting further. In its position statement, the American Psychiatric Association states that "Numerous studies over the last three decades consistently demonstrate that children raised by gay or lesbian parents exhibit the same level of emotional, cognitive, social, and sexual functioning as children raised by heterosexual parents. This research indicates that optimal development for children is based not on the sexual orientation of the parents, but on stable attachments to committed and nurturing adults". The APA explains that research shows that irrespective of parents' sexual orientation, children with two parents fare better than those with one. The positions of the two associations were among those presented to the Californian Supreme Court, and confirmed by the National Association of Social Workers.

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In policy debates on lesbian and gay parenting, it has been suggested that heterosexual couples are inherently better parents than same-sex couples, or that the children of lesbian or gay parents fare worse than children raised by heterosexual parents; there is no scientific support for the view in the scientific research literature. The abilities of gay and lesbian persons as parents and the positive outcomes for their children are not disputed by any credible scientific researchers. The statements of leading associations of experts in this area are made on the basis of such research, and the professional consensus is that children raised by lesbian or gay parents do not differ in any important respects from those raised by heterosexual parents. Australian research by Short et al. describes how the outcomes for children brought up in families parented by lesbian and gay parents tend to be as good as in families with heterosexual parents, at the same time acknowledging this happens in the context challenges faced from discrimination and other inequities. In Pediatrics, Pawelski et a. explained that "over 25 years of research have documented that there is no relationship between a parent’s sexual orientation and any measure of a child’s emotional, psychosocial and behavioral adjustment" and demonstrates that there is no risk to children growing up in a family with one or more gay parents. It suggests that having conscientious and nurturing adults as parents is more significant than the parents' sexual orientation, regardless of whether they are men or women, heterosexual, gay or lesbian. There is also a recommendation that redressing discriminatory practices by strengthening the rights, benefits, and protections of civil partnerships would assist these families in bringing up their children. Herek says "If gay, lesbian, or bisexual parents were inherently less capable than otherwise comparable heterosexual parents, their children would evidence problems regardless of the type of sample. This pattern clearly has not been observed", pointing out that no reliable evidence to the contrary has been forthcoming. The family studies literature indicates that it is family processes (such as the quality of parenting and relationships within the family) that contribute to determining children’s wellbeing and ‘outcomes’, rather than family structures, per se, such as the number, gender, sexuality and co-habitation status of parents.

The American Psychological Association supports adoption and parenting by same-sex couples, citing social prejudice as harming the psychological health of lesbians and gays while noting there is no empiric evidence that their parenting causes harm. The American Medical Association has issued a similar position supporting same-sex adoption, stating that while there is little evidence against LGBT parenting, lack of formal recognition can cause health-care disparities for children of same-sex parents. Mainstream professional organizations with expertise in child welfare have issued reports and resolutions in support of gay and lesbian parental rights including the American Psychological Association, the Child Welfare League of America, the American Bar Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the North American Council on Adoptable Children, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, Royal College of Psychiatrists, and Canadian Psychological Association. There is research which builds on work done on children raised by single mothers, and children raised by a lesbian couple tend to see themselves as less cognitively and physically competent than those from families where there is a father present. Where some studies have shown that children raised by lesbian mothers conform to stereotypical gender-role behaviour, researchers have observed more relaxed boundaries in sex-typed play (dolls versus trucks) and in gender-stereotypical career aspirations among such children. The argument that same-sex parents are unsuitable for the same reason that single parenting is not an optimal situation hinges on the assumption that children of single-parent households suffer due to a lack of gender role models, rather than due to a lack of parental care and supervision associated with single parenting. Yet it is questioned whether studies on single-parent families necessarily relate to parental gender roles or to the quality of parenting provided by same-sex couples, which, as a 2006 report by the Department of Justice (Canada) states, is "independent of the sexual orientation of parents."

Discussions sometimes focus on whether the children of lesbian, gay, or bisexual parents are more likely to experience same-sex erotic attractions or to identify as gay. Whether this is relevant for policy or not is doubtful, because homosexuality is not an illness or disability, and is not considered harmful, undesirable, needing intervention or prevention by the mental health profession. Several peer-reviewed studies comparing children raised by two mothers and those raised by a mother and a father have not found any relation between same-sex parenting and a greater likelihood of identifying later in life as gay. Research that has uncovered interesting differences indirectly connected with having lesbian or gay parents, notes that the connections are not causal. Prejudicial and homophobic attitudes outside the family can have an effect on children with lesbian and gay parents, yet it was noted that within such families there tends to be less emphasis on behaving in stereotypically gendered ways and an openness to non-heterosexual orientation than in heterosexual families. "A significantly greater proportion of young adult children raised by lesbian mothers than those raised by heterosexual mothers in the sample reported having had a homoerotic relationship (6 of the 25 young adults raised by lesbian mothers [24%] compared with 0 of the 20 raised by heterosexual mothers.)" and that those raised by lesbian mothers were more open to the idea that they might have homoerotic attraction or relationships; the difference is significant: "64 percent of the young adults raised by lesbian mothers report having considered same-sex relationships (in the past, now or in the future), compared with only 17 percent of those raised by heterosexual mothers." This is explained in terms of the attitudes cultivated when living in a family which is not concerned with gender stereotypes and an openness to non-heterosexual sexual orientations outcomes.