Parenting : Tools to Fight Discrimination

In the fight for LGBT rights, opponents of equality often assert that gay people are inferior parents. Some rely on hateful, baseless stereotypes of gay people (e.g. that we are sexual predators who prey on children or that we lack the stability needed to raise children). Others merely offer the unsupported assumption that children need a male and female parent to develop well. The truth is that twenty-five years of social science research studying the outcomes of children raised by lesbian or gay parents uniformly concludes that these children are just as happy, healthy and well-adjusted as their peers. This is a solid body of research by respected psychologists published in top academic journals. Not a single child development study has found that parental sexual orientation has any correlation with whether a child develops healthily.

Making custody determinations or adoption or foster care placements based on arbitrary parental characteristics such as sexual orientation does not serve children’s interests. These decisions should be based on who is best able to meet each child’s individual needs.

All of the major national organizations dedicated to children’s welfare therefore have come to a professional consensus that gay people should not be excluded from being considered as adoptive or foster parents, and that custody and visitation determinations should not be based on parents’ sexual orientation. These organizations include the Child Welfare League of America, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, and the North American Council on Adoptable Children. These groups aren't driven by political beliefs, but by the goal of promoting children’s well being.

Comprehensive information on the social science, public policy, and legal arguments supporting equal treatment of gay parents and debunking the myths is found in Too High A Price: The Case Against Restricting Gay Parenting.

Talking Points About Adoption and Gay Parents

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Refuting the Myths About Gay Parents

Argument #1: Kids are best off in a family with a mother and a father.

Years of research that compares children raised by heterosexual couples with children raised by same-sex couples has consistently shown that children are equally well-adjusted whether they have two mothers, two fathers, or a mother and a father.
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Basing Child Placement Decisions on Parent’s Sexual Orientation is Bad for Kids

The cardinal child welfare principle is that children should be with the parent or parents who can best meet their needs, especially in deciding which parent should have custody of a child, or with whom a child should be placed for adoption or in foster care. Determining custody or adoption and foster care placements based on arbitrary factors such as parents’ sexual orientation undermines this goal.
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Positions of Child Welfare Organizations

Because excluding gay people from parenting is not only unnecessary, but works against children’s interests, every major national organization devoted to children’s welfare opposes restrictions on parenting by gay people. The following are statements they have issued on the topic:

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Summaries of Leading Research on Gay Parents

These summaries provide the main findings of the leading social science studies focused on gay parents and their children. See Too High A Price for further information on the research studies of LGBT families.

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