The Damages to Children in Gay Marriages

The facts are in: gay marriage hurts children.

 

In a mounting clash of opinions, supporters of same sex marriages frequently tout research that proves children of gays suffer no disadvantages over children of traditional couples—that they are as well-adjusted as their peers.

 

This position has been shattered in two recently released studies. The first analyzed the research used to “prove” the health of children under gay lifestyles. The second reports on a thorough, rigorously engineered research study that validates the need for a father and mother for every child.

 

First, How Good Is the Research?

 

Loren Marks of Louisiana State University analyzed the 59 research studies used by gays to prove their point. Here is Mark’s summary: “[N]ot one of the 59 studies…compares a large, random, representative sample of lesbian or gay parents and their children with a large, random, representative sample of married parents and their children”, the only credible way to obtain valid research data.

 

All 59 studies are scientifically flawed: samples too small to give accurate data, conducted by pro-homosexuals whose bias invalidates the study, or conducted under questionable procedures. Some of the studies measured children from gay homes against children from divorced homes rather than intact families. Some gathered information only by asking homosexual parents if they thought their children were disadvantaged—a method very prone to bias and hardly scientific.

 

Thus, the studies that laud the well-being of children raised in gay homes are defective in their methods and scientifically inconclusive.

By contrast, a recently released study by Mark Regnerus of University of Texas at Austin (Published in Social Science Research in June 2012) employed the highest research standards to produce results so scientifically and statistically valid they are largely irrefutable. The data are statistically significant after controlling for variables that might change the results—meaning that the results can be trusted.

In addition, the study was very thorough, measuring 40 variables and polling adult children rather than young children still in the home—a much more valid technique.

 

The Regnerus study also separated information about children raised by lesbians and those raised by gays, which sheds further light on this volatile subject.

 

Second, What Do the Studies Say?

 

The results between children of gay families and traditional families are striking. The Regnerus study, titled the New Family Structures Study (NFSS) offers a summary of its study on its website, “ [T]he data show rather clearly that children raised by gay or lesbian parents on average are at a significant disadvantage when compared to children raised by the intact family of their married, biological mother and father.”

 

In 37 of the 40 areas studied, children of gay homes fare worse than children raised with a father and mother who live together, and in some areas the disadvantages are serious and dramatic. In the following 8 areas the NFSS study provided conclusive evidence that children of homosexual parents:

• Are much more likely to have received welfare growing up
• Have lower educational attainment
• Report less safety and security in their family of origin
• Report more ongoing "negative impact" from their family of origin
• Are more likely to suffer from depression
• Have been arrested more often
• If they are female, have had more sexual partners-both male and female

Compared to children from intact biological families, children of lesbian mothers:

• Are much more likely to be currently cohabiting
• Are 4 times more likely to be currently on public assistance
• Are 3 times more likely to be unemployed
• Are 4 times more likely to identify as something other than entirely heterosexual
• Are 3 times as likely to have had an affair while married or cohabiting
• Are an astonishing 11 times more likely to have been "touched sexually by a parent or other adult caregiver" in childhood (not necessarily by the homosexual parent)
• Are 4 times as likely to have been "physically forced" to have sex against their will at some time
• Are more likely to have "attachment" problems related to the ability to depend on others
• Smoke and use marijuana more frequently
• Have more often pled guilty to a non-minor offense

The study was unable to compare "stable homosexual families" with "stable heterosexual families," because there were so few stable homosexual families available to study. Of the 248 children with homosexual parents who were surveyed, only two lived with their homosexual parent and partner during their entire childhood from birth to age 18. The study did include less stable heterosexual families, such as one parent families and step families.

 

As can be expected, the liberal left and the pro homosexual forces are attacking the NFSS research. The results, however, are conclusive.  The New Family Structures Study validates the pro-family principles that pro-homosexual activists consistently deny.  First, children do better when raised by their own married mother and father. Second, children suffer when raised by homosexual parents in comparison to all other family structures. Third, homosexual relationships are more inclined to be unstable. Fourth, public policy should continue to encourage the raising of children by a married mother and father.

 

Pro homosexual advocates rarely, if ever, focus their arguments on the well-being of the children involved in their unions. This study allows those children a voice. Throughout human history it has been an accepted fact that children deserve both a mother and a father. In a gay union every child is denied one of those parents—every single one. The children from these unions reinforce the universal lessons of history: both a father and a mother matter.

 

- Pam