Homosexuality: same sex parenting

The Biblical model for the family unit consists of a man and a wife who are married bringing up their own biological children.
Research evidence confirms that this is the best environment for raising children.

Increasingly, homosexual groups are lobbying governments to pass legislation that endorses their relationships and allows adoption and IVF for same-sex couples. They quote research studies to verify their claim that parenting by homosexual couples is equal to parenting by heterosexual couples.

Personal stories from people raised by homosexuals also tell an important story about same-sex parenting...
Dawn Stefanowicz has written Out From Under: The Impact of Homosexual Parenting. She describes the negative effects from being raised by a homosexual father - his partners, the violence, the disease, the sex.
Visit her website for more information. Bill Muehlenberg has written a review of her book.

The questions we must ask are

"Is parenting by same-sex couples desirable?" and

"Is the research valid?"

There is a great deal of research that shows that the best environment for raising children is in a home with their biological mother and father who are married. This is not necessarily politically correct, but it is TRUE. A child needs a mother and a father.

The following research shows that studies on same-sex parenting are flawed and refute the claim that same-sex parents provide a suitable environment for children:

"Children as Trophies"
UK sociologist Patricia Morgan has researched all the studies that have been done on same-sex parenting. She has found that many of the studies are flawed in their research methods and that many of the studies themselves actually show that there are detrimental effects for children brought up in these situations.
Patricia has published all her findings in a book titled "Children as trophies".
See also a review of Children as trophies written by Bill Muehlenberg (Nat Secretary, Australian Family Association)

NEW: Children as Trophies by UK sociologist Patricia Morgan, is now online
- 162 pages, 519 KB. Click here.

August 2010 - Analysis of AAP lesbian parenting study
New Lesbian Parenting Study Makes Claims Unsupported by the Evidence by A Dean Byrd, PhD, MBA,MPH.
Dr Byrd analyses a recent study on lesbian parenting. He begins 'The National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) published by American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) offers the following conclusion: "Adolescents who have been reared in lesbian-mother families since birth demonstrate healthy psychological adjustment (p. 28)." '

He writes "However, a cursory review of this study (funded by the Gill Foundation and the Lesbian Health Fund of the Gay, Lesbian Medical Association) demonstrates significant flaws that most first-year graduate students would quickly recognize. Any reasonable observer would easily conclude that the authors overstated their findings and that in this instance, whatever external review process was utilized, was inadequate. Consider the following:..."
The flaws include: self-reporting study, not 'typical' people; control group not 'matched' - more 'minorities'; not random (recruited from homosexual venues).

He also criticises the recent 2010 study by Stacey and Biblarz.
In addition he refers to the recent research about the negative effect on children who are born through a sperm donation (by Marquardt, Glenn and Clark, titled, "My Daddy's Name is 'Donor': A New Study of Young Adults Conceived Through Sperm Donation."

Dr Trayce Hansen's review of the studies

US psychologist Dr Trayce Hansen has examined the same-sex parenting studies.
In her review (see full links below) she focuses on the issue of whether a child brought up by homosexual parents is MORE LIKELY to become a homosexual or lesbian themselves.
Her findings:
* The summaries often didn't mention the findings
* Children raised by homosexuals 4-10 times more likely to be homosexual
* Children much more likely to consider same-sex relationships  

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Documents:
Dr Hansen - Summary of the review
Pro-Homosexual Researchers Conceal Findings:
Children Raised by Openly Homosexual Parents More Likely to Engage in Homosexuality
By Trayce Hansen, Ph.D.

Dr Hansen's Review:
A Review and Analysis of Research Studies Which Assessed Sexual Preference of Children Raised by Homosexuals 
By Trayce Hansen, Ph.D.

World Net Daily has written an article summarising Dr Hansen's findings:
'Gay' family kids 7 times more likely to be homosexual
But report shows researchers concealing information
June 08, 2009 By Bob Unruh © 2009 WorldNetDaily

"No Basis: What the Studies Don't Tell Us about Same-Sex Parenting"

Prof. Steven Nock
Professor Nock is a professor of sociology at the University of Virginia. In his affidavit filed with the Ontario Superior Court in Halpern v. Attorney General, Professor Nock explains the principles of social science research methodology, and then critiques a series of studies which have dealt with the question of same-sex parenting.
Based on his review of the studies, Professor Nock concludes "1) all of the articles I reviewed contained at least one fatal flaw of design or execution; and 2) not a single one of those studies was conducted according to general accepted standards of scientific research."
This summary taken from Marriage Watch.
Click here for his 81 page Statement (pdf).

Homosexual Parenting: Placing Children at Risk
Family Research Council, Issue No.: 238
by: Timothy J. Dailey, Ph. D.
"A number of studies in recent years have purported to show that children raised in gay and lesbian households fare no worse than those reared in traditional families. Yet much of that research fails to meet acceptable standards for psychological research; it is compromised by methodological flaws and driven by political agendas instead of an objective search for truth. In addition, openly lesbian researchers sometimes conduct research with an interest in portraying homosexual parenting in a positive light. The deficiencies of studies on homosexual parenting include reliance upon an inadequate sample size, lack of random sampling, lack of anonymity of research participants, and self-presentation bias....."
Click here for this article.

"Homosexual Parents: 'Hidden Study' Uncovered!!" Click here.
One of the best studies that analyses the research done on same-sex parenting has been prepared by Robert Lerner, Ph.D., and Althea K. Nagai, Ph.D.
These two, who are professionals in the field of quantitative analysis, analysed 49 of the major studies and prepared a report for the Marriage Law project. The report discusses in detail the research flaws in the studies.
Click here to read the 149 page report.

From researchers who are more sympathetic to the homosexual lifestyle:

Some researchers who are sympathetic to the homosexual cause have also found that there are differences - but go on to say they 'don't matter'.

"How Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?" by Stacey and Biblarz
This is a detailed article published in a respected journal by non-Christians, Judith Stacey and Timothy Biblarz. They find, from a review of the literature, that the studies reveal that there are differences in children raised by homosexuals and lesbians. . .
Published in American Sociological Association Journal ,April 2001.

However they go on to conclude that the differences don't matter and that sexual orientation should be ignored as a factor in 'family rights'!
They say "Thus, while we disagree with those who claim that there are no differences between the children of heterosexual parents and children of lesbigay children, we unequivocally endorse their conclusion that social science research provides no grounds for taking sexual orientation into account in the political distribution of family rights and responsibilities."
Click here to read the 25 page report.

Judith Stacey has also written commenting on the use of this study...
"Conservative activists and journalists immediately seized on our discussion of these differences and began to cite these and our article as evidence in support of their efforts to deny partnership and parenting rights to lesbians and gay men. This is a serious misreading and abuse of our work....In other words, even though we noted some differences, we emphasized that the differences were not deficits. In fact, the studies found no negative effects of lesbian and gay parenting, and a few studies reported some differences that could represent a few advantages of lesbian parenting."

January 2010 - New article by Stacey and Biblarz
How Does the Gender of Parents Matter?
Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol 72, February 2010.

Articles:

"Children Of Homosexual Parents Report Childhood Difficulties"
An article on children of homosexual parents. Click here.

So what are homosexual groups saying?

In 2002 the Australian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL) released a report titled "Meet the Parents". It was launched at the Sydney mardi gras by Kerryn Phelps, then President of the Australian Medical Association.

This report, which reviewed some of the studies, maintains that same-sex couples make wonderful parents. This research is being used by homosexual groups to lobby governments around Australia to change the laws to support homosexual adoption and IVF.

"Meet the Parents": Click here for the report.
A review of the "Meet the Parents" report by Bill Muehlenberg, titled "Parenting Dangers".

On the GLRL website, they have a number of major reports supporting their cause:
Their latest report is titled "And then the Brides Changed Nappies ".
They also have one titled "Adoption".
Click here for this page on their website.

See the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby website to see the focus they are placing on the 'parenting' question.

Victorian Law Reform Commission - and homosexual activists...

Outcomes for Children born of Assisted Reproductive Technology in a Diverse Range of Families
By Dr Ruth McNair, Department of General Practice, University of Melbourne (PDF 326KB).
This is a Research Paper summarising the studies and outcomes written by Dr Ruth McNair - done for the Victorian Law Reform Commission during their investigation of Artificial Reproductive Technology and Adoption. [The final report was handed to the Victorian government in April 2007.]
BUT Ruth McNair was co-ordinator of the Fertility Rights Access Group of the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group - and they were actively lobbying the government to allow IVF for lesbians! She favourably quotes all the pro-homosexual research!
Including the multiple studies by Charlotte Patterson - another lesbian!