It’s an un-gay life for children growing up with homosexual parents, according to the New Family Structures Study published in Social Science Research vol. 41, pp752–770, July 2012 and an article on slate.com 11 June 2012. Mark Regnerus of Department of Sociology and Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin has conducted a large survey of young adults (age 18-39) who have grown up in a household where one parent was in a same sex relationship. Regnerus looked at 40 different indicators of social and personal wellbeing, e.g. being employed or on welfare, experiencing sexual molestation, having suicidal thoughts, and compared these to young adults raised by both biological parents in an intact marriage. The homosexual community has proclaimed that such children experience no difference in personal development and social outcomes from children growing up in traditional families, but rather than finding “no difference”, Regnerus found significant differences in 25 of the 40 outcomes. For example: 69 percent of those with lesbian mothers were on welfare as children, compared to only 17 percent from traditional families. Furthermore, 38 percent of the adult children of lesbian mothers were on welfare when the survey was conducted, compared with only 10 percent of those with married parents. Only two percent of those with married parents were ever touched sexually by an adult, while 23 percent of those with a lesbian mother had that happen to them.
In a summary on slate.com Regnerus summed up his results: “On 25 of 40 different outcomes evaluated, the children of women who’ve had same-sex relationships fare quite differently than those in stable, biologically-intact mom-and-pop families, displaying numbers more comparable to those from heterosexual stepfamilies and single parents. Even after including controls for age, race, gender, and things like being bullied as a youth, or the gay-friendliness of the state in which they live, such respondents were more apt to report being unemployed, less healthy, more depressed, more likely to have cheated on a spouse or partner, smoke more pot, had trouble with the law, report more male and female sex partners, more sexual victimization, and were more likely to reflect negatively on their childhood family life, among other things”. He went onto say: “One notable theme among the adult children of same-sex parents, however, is household instability, and plenty of it. The children of fathers who have had same-sex relationships fare a bit better, but they seldom reported living with their father for very long, and never with his partner for more than three years”. Regnerus concluded that the data shows that a household of two biological parents in a stable marriage is “the safest place for a kid”.
New Family Structures, Regnerus’ Summary
Editorial Comment: It is no surprise the best outcomes are from growing up with both biological parents in a stable marriage, since a pair of faithful partners, one male and one female married for life, is the Creator’s original design, first set down in Genesis 1-4, and affirmed by Jesus in Matthew 19. Whether families know the Creator God or not, His design provably works better for individuals, families and society than any man-made alternative. And you are right – we cannot support legislation enabling gay couples to adopt children. (Ref: males, females, families, marriage, relationships)
Evidence News 5 December 2012