Damn It and Double Damn It Gays are Good Parents (link)

[_The Mighty Builder]

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=1070&s ... d=queue-12

He also points out that same-sex households compare better to stepfamilies and single parent households. For example, the percentage of children raised in intact biological families on welfare was a mere 17 percent, while those in same-sex households ranked highest at 69 percent, followed by those in stepfamily households at 53 percent and finally, 48 percent of children raise in single parent households received welfare.

[_Fiannan]

I would be interested in how well the child did in school as well as their overall IQ and health. My curiosity stems from the fact that most lesbians rely on sperm donation and donors are generally screened to make sure only healthy males who are usually in possession of higher IQ are allowed to donate.

[_The Mighty Builder]

You mean like a Super Lesbian Race? Cool!

[Anonymous]

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=1070&sid=20783662&title=new-study-challenges-ideas-about-children-in-same-sex-households&s_cid=queue-12

He also points out that same-sex households compare better to stepfamilies and single parent households. For example, the percentage of children raised in intact biological families on welfare was a mere 17 percent, while those in same-sex households ranked highest at 69 percent, followed by those in stepfamily households at 53 percent and finally, 48 percent of children raise in single parent households received welfare.

A study finds that 69 percent of children raised in same-sex households eventually end up on welfare, versus 17 percent of those who are raised in intact biological families (i.e., with a mother and a father), and you read this is evidence that "gays are good parents"?

[_Kishkumen]

A study finds that 69 percent of children raised in same-sex households eventually end up on welfare, versus 17 percent of those who are raised in intact biological families (i.e., with a mother and a father), and you read this is evidence that "gays are good parents"?

Given the many children who have a difficult time finding any family, I am dumbstruck by all of the effort to keep gay people from adopting children.

I mean, it seems like the straight parents aren't scooping these kids up. Should they be left homeless just because some bigot wants to keep them out of the hands of a caring gay couple?

[_Doctor Scratch]

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=1070&sid=20783662&title=new-study-challenges-ideas-about-children-in-same-sex-households&s_cid=queue-12

He also points out that same-sex households compare better to stepfamilies and single parent households. For example, the percentage of children raised in intact biological families on welfare was a mere 17 percent, while those in same-sex households ranked highest at 69 percent, followed by those in stepfamily households at 53 percent and finally, 48 percent of children raise in single parent households received welfare.

A study finds that 69 percent of children raised in same-sex households eventually end up on welfare, versus 17 percent of those who are raised in intact biological families (i.e., with a mother and a father), and you read this is evidence that "gays are good parents"?

Where does it say that they "eventually end up on welfare"?

[_Natsunekko]

I question the value judgement that "being on welfare" is an indicator of a bad childhood.

In the United States, a person can be on welfare because they are a lazy bum--or they can be on welfare because they developed a disability, or an illness, or survived a natural disaster, or gave birth to a high-needs disabled child and had to quit their dual-income lifestyle, or their industry became obsolete, or any number of things that have nothing to do with them being "good" or "bad."

[_Nevo]

Where does it say that they "eventually end up on welfare"?

Well, it appears I misread the article too. Touché.

I guess I was influenced by what the lead author of the study states elsewhere:

"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."

But I stand corrected: the 69 percent figure refers to children of lesbian mothers who reported that their family received welfare at some point while they were growing up. As for those currently on welfare, the study reports that "38% of LMs [children of lesbian mothers] said they are currently receiving some form of public assistance, compared with 10% of IBFs [children of intact biological mother/father households]." (source)

[_Doctor Scratch]

I'd like to look at the study itself, but this certainly doesn't help matters:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/1 ... 89177.html

But other scientists say the research is deeply flawed, and does not measure the effect of same-sex parenting at all. The study defined same-sex parenting by asking participants if their parents had ever had same-sex relationships, and whether they had lived with the parent at that time. That led to a "hodgepodge" group of people who Regnerus then compared with kids in stable, married homes, said Judith Stacey, a sociologist at New York University who was not involved in the research.

In contrast, a fair comparison would have matched up children of same-sex parents with children of heterosexual parents who looked otherwise similar — no extra divorces, no extra separations, no extra time in foster care for the kids, said Gary Gates, a researcher at the Williams Institute, a sexual orientation policy think tank at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Gates is right: if you want to assess whether same-sex parenting contributes to negative life outcomes, then you really have to isolate that element, and it sounds like this study failed to do this. I kind of suspected that this was the case when you mentioned this "welfare" thing, since I have a hard time seeing how this has anything whatsoever to do with parenting--especially in our current economic climate.

[_Kishkumen]

I'd like to look at the study itself, but this certainly doesn't help matters:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/1 ... 89177.html

But other scientists say the research is deeply flawed, and does not measure the effect of same-sex parenting at all. The study defined same-sex parenting by asking participants if their parents had ever had same-sex relationships, and whether they had lived with the parent at that time. That led to a "hodgepodge" group of people who Regnerus then compared with kids in stable, married homes, said Judith Stacey, a sociologist at New York University who was not involved in the research.

In contrast, a fair comparison would have matched up children of same-sex parents with children of heterosexual parents who looked otherwise similar — no extra divorces, no extra separations, no extra time in foster care for the kids, said Gary Gates, a researcher at the Williams Institute, a sexual orientation policy think tank at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Gates is right: if you want to assess whether same-sex parenting contributes to negative life outcomes, then you really have to isolate that element, and it sounds like this study failed to do this. I kind of suspected that this was the case when you mentioned this "welfare" thing, since I have a hard time seeing how this has anything whatsoever to do with parenting--especially in our current economic climate.

So, in other words, lets compare two groups: one that includes crack whores who do gay tricks on occasion, and one that is composed of stable, heterosexual married couples.

How could anyone anticipate that such parameters would lead to skewed and misleading results?