Same-Sex Parenting In the last ten years, many established gay men and lesbians have been increasingly undertaking parenthood through donor insemination, surrogacy, or fostering and adoption (McCann, 2005). Thus, a new type of family formation in American society has been generated. Due to the formation of same-sex households, gay and lesbian parenting is no longer a concept. This type of parenting has become a reality which society as a whole is struggling to accept (McCann, 2005). In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau counted gay marriages in its survey for the first time in order to provide official data for researchers and policy makers (Wagner, 2010). Such data could help track trend in gay and lesbian family formation and impacts on …show more content…
Even though homosexual couples tend to have better assets to raise children than heterosexual couples, increased parenting stress, parental conflict and relationship dissatisfaction appear to be associated with higher levels of psychological problems among their children, as is the case for children raised in heterosexual families (Wagner, 2010). Such difficulties and dilemmas raise questions concerning gay men’s and lesbians’ right to parenthood and the damaging effect on the children in their care (Wagner, 2010). One of the important questions about same-sex parenting is that whether parental sexual orientation affects child development. Early research on children with lesbian and gay parents began with studies focused on cases in which children had been born in the context of a heterosexual marriage (McCann, 2005). Some researchers compared development among children of divorced lesbian mothers with that among children of divorced heterosexual mothers and found few significant differences (McCann, 2005). For children who were born and raised in a context of homosexual marriage, the Bay Area Families Study conducted by Charlotte J. Patterson (2006) showed that the participants, who were a group of four to nine years old children adopted at the early ages and raised by lesbian mothers, had the same
In conclusion, the augment for gay adoption is far stronger and far better supported than those opposed. One must admit that sexual orientation is fundamentally irrelevant to a person’s capacity to be a good parent. The opposition to gay and lesbian adoption has failed to support its
This article talks about the support of second parent adoption for gays everywhere. They support the idea that children with two capable adults no matter what gender are able and should be able to care for a child. Although they support this, the article does not show any sort of negativity toward the opposite side relating the issue. The site details the rights that the second parent should be guaranteed through an adoption. They also think that pediatricians and other professions dealing with children should get more familiar with learning about gays and the children they adopt. The authors are the Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. The people in the committee have many different backgrounds and are advocates for children’s
We have all seen the classic television scene, where a happy family consisting of one mother, one father, and two children is hovered around a table or a couch. Although still prominent, this scene is becoming less common nowadays as more families become non-traditional. More families than ever are consisting of one mother and children, one father and children, grandparents and children, and even two mothers or two fathers and children. These households, although not what most people consider a normal household, are becoming more common and regular in today’s society. Homosexual parents and families are indeed different from more traditional families, but not for the worse. This trend is not increasing
Same-sex parenting is taken both in positive and negative sense but even then it is regarded more as a family issue. There is a concept that where lives a same-sex couples, there must be children raised by them. Then it comes to mind that which sort of children? Such children may be divided into three groups: (Kurtz, 2004)
The conception that lesbians and gay men may be parents is frequently perceived in today 's society as impossible or immoral. Gay men and lesbians are often viewed as excluded from having children because sexual reproduction is related to men and women couples only. My approach to this uniquely controversial topic of gay parenting will be that of attempting to analyze the pro side. Gays and lesbians are human too and who is to say that they don 't deserve equal rights in society. Society has to realize that the modern family has developed into many different forms in recent years in that the traditional "nuclear family" is not necessarily the
This study was conducted in the Netherlands. First, the authors studied the association between “parental characteristics” and “child-rearing” factors. Second, they examined the “child adjustment” in planned lesbian mothers families and in heterosexual parents families. 100 planned lesbian mothers families were recruited through the Medical Center for Birth Control, homosexual parenting experts, the Dutch advocate group for homosexuality, and advertisement in the lesbian magazine. Compatible 100 heterosexual parents families were
“There is no scientific basis for concluding that lesbian mothers or gay fathers are unfit parents on the basis of their sexual orientation” (Armesto, 2002; Patterson, 2000; Tasker & Golombok, 1997). Ever since gay and lesbians have been parents people have questioned how the parents’ sexual orientation impacts child and adolescent development. Opponents of same-sex parents argue that sexual orientation has a negative impact on child development, while proponents argue that the relationship between the child and parents is what matters. National, state, and local governments are faced with the controversy surrounding same-sex parenting. People have very strong opinions on both sides of the argument. Children and adolescents who are under lesbian or gay parents have normal child development compared with children under heterosexual parents. These children develop normally socially, mentally, and academically.
Gay parents are facing discrimination because of their sexual orientation. Twenty-two states currently allow single gays to adopt and 21 states currently allow gay and lesbian couples to adopt in the U.S. (Mallon, 2007, p. 6). The ability of gay couples to rear a child should not be denied only because they are gay. Homosexuals may be looked down upon by society, but they still are humans and have morals. These morals they possess, may influence a child more than those morals taught to a child with heterosexual parents. All over the world, children suffer in families consisting of alcoholics, drug abusers, and sexual abusers (Powell, 2007, p.1). It is not possible that these environments are safer than what would be provided by homosexual
Since the early 1900s, homosexual people have become increasingly popular and greatly resisted. People that are homosexual face barriers placed upon them by the political system and society. Due to these challenges, homosexuals fought to have the same marital and parental rights as heterosexual people. Same-sex adoption is not prohibited in most states in the United States of America and many places worldwide. Family is not determined solely on blood relations and should be legalized in all parts of the world; because homosexual parents are just as good as heterosexual parents, if not better, and can provide an enriching second chance for many children waiting to be adopted.
One of the most important thing for children is to have a loving and supporting home. Having a loving and supportive home can come from same-sex couple or heterosexual couples. According to the article Overview of gay and lesbian parenting, adoption and foster care by American Civil Liberties “Good parenting is not influenced by sexual orientation. Rather, it is influenced most profoundly by a parent's ability to create a loving and nurturing home -- an ability that does not depend on whether a parent is gay or straight.” This just shows how important it is for kids to
Recent estimates suggest that between 2.0 and 3.7 million children are being raised by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender adults in the United States, according to the 2013 National Health Interview Survey and Gallup Poll data (Gates, 2014). The battle of equal right in many aspects for gay and lesbian couples have been going on for years, and although significant progress has been made, there are many aspects within their relationships that are not yet equal to heterosexual couples in similar situations. Gay and lesbian couples have to deal with daily discrimination within issues such as marriage, legal issues, medical issues, and mamy forms for homophobia. Adoption has been a big question and fight for gay and lesbian couples for many years, one that is still being found today. Questions of whether or not a gay or lesbian couple can “properly” raise a healthy child, if the child’s psychological development would be compromised, any many other arguments have been proposed in disapproval of adoption for these couples. Adoption is a tedious process for a heterosexual married couple and the challenges and hoops needed to be jumped through to finalize the process can be even more difficult for homosexual couples and single gay or lesbian individuals.
The social science research that is routinely repeated does not actually speak on the subject questions of whether or not children need both a mother and a father at home. Instead proponents generally cite research that compares [heterosexual two-parent] families with single parents, this conflates the number with the gender of parents," the authors write. Indeed, there are far more similarities than differences among children of lesbian and heterosexual parents, according to the study. On average, two mothers tended to play with their children more, were less likely to use physical discipline, and were less likely to raise children with chauvinistic attitudes. Studies of gay male families are still limited. However, like two heterosexual parents, new parenthood among lesbians increased stress and conflict, exacerbated by general lack of legal recognition of commitment. Also, lesbian biological mothers typically assumed greater caregiving responsibility than their partners, reflecting inequities among heterosexual couples.
LGBTQ is becoming something that is more of a concerned focused topic, but plunging deeper into it, single sex families are said to have no disadvantages compared to families of opposite sex. There are many questions that tend to pop up within this topic. What about the children? Do these households with single-sex families have any disadvantages? Are children better off with opposite sex families? There is also a possible disagreement amongst sociologists as to if there are any consequences of raising a child in a single-sex family and if it could be harmful to the child or not. In gay parented families there are also a function of two different things: the first one being the rich variety of family constellations that they comprise, and the second one being that the other is the fact that they are living in a society that hasn’t even came to value rich variety which this could lead to a major amount of tension for families in gay parenting. One last but not least issue that serves in LGBT parenting is that the development of sexual identity will be impaired among children of lesbian and gay parents.
Gay and lesbian marriages or partnerships have been increasing since the 1980’s (Macionis & Plummer, 2012). Moreover, in some countries such as the United States, gay couples are allowed to adopt children (Macionis & Plummer, 2012). Kimmel
Nowadays, the question of gay marriage is one of the most heated and controversial. Over the years, same-sex couples are fighting for the legal recognition for their marriages and their right as parents. Parenthood is one of the most valuable experiences in a human life. After finding a partner, it is natural for people to want to raise children. Homosexual parent are the same in ability and commitment to raised healthy children. It would be a big step for improvement in our society to provide necessary support and rights for same-sex couples and their children.