Children fare better in traditional mom-dad families

[_The Dude]

This is a study comparing kids from broken families to kids from intact families. Of course the kids from broken families have poorer outcomes! That doesn't surprise me or challenge my views one bit. The researchers used study criteria to select kids from families where homosexuality was the cause of the break-up, compared them to kids from intact heterosexual families, and then they disingenuously spin the analysis as a critique of homosexuality. Ridiculous!

Now if the researchers had only compared kids from broken marriages caused by 1) homosexuality vs 2) something else (other infidelity, alcohol, abuse, whatever) then they could maybe say what they're trying to say. Or more likely they would find that broken marriages are simply a bad thing regardless of the cause.

In my view the study supports gay rights and gay marriage. If our laws could support homosexuals who want to have relationships very much like traditional mom-dad relationships, then one would expect the children to have better outcomes. Not letting them have such relationships will only support the status quo and perpetuate the findings in this study.

Sorry BC Space! Also, sorry to the conservatives who funded the study: the Witherspoon Institute and the Bradley Foundation.

For more details, see William Saletan's article in Slate

[_Drifting]

But I am concerned that our fraying social fabric might be further damaged by policies that are harmful to children, particularly in their earliest stages of development.

How do you believe that same sex marriages would damage our social fabric and would be harmful to children?

And what can be considered a bigger threat to the upbringing of children?
Same sex marriage or alcohol consumption and obesity?

[_Kishkumen]

This is a study comparing kids from broken families to kids from intact families. Of course the kids from broken families have poorer outcomes! That doesn't surprise me or challenge my views one bit. The researchers used study criteria to select kids from families where homosexuality was the cause of the break-up, compared them to kids from intact heterosexual families, and then they disingenuously spin the analysis as a critique of homosexuality. Ridiculous!

Exactly. I have a difficult time seeing how this study was constructed honestly to reach a legitimate conclusion. Rather, it looks to have been cobbled together in order to make a specific false impression.

[_Kishkumen]

I do want to say, though, that if scientists do ever figure out a way for two parents of the same sex to have a child, that child would by definition be of some species other than homo sapiens. More broadly I think there are places we just shouldn't go as a society, and this kind of transhumanism is definitely on the list.

That is an interesting question to which I doubt there are easy answers.

[_Drifting]

This is a study comparing kids from broken families to kids from intact families. Of course the kids from broken families have poorer outcomes! That doesn't surprise me or challenge my views one bit. The researchers used study criteria to select kids from families where homosexuality was the cause of the break-up, compared them to kids from intact heterosexual families, and then they disingenuously spin the analysis as a critique of homosexuality. Ridiculous!

Exactly. I have a difficult time seeing how this study was constructed honestly to reach a legitimate conclusion. Rather, it looks to have been cobbled together in order to make a specific false impression.

I believe this anthropological study technique is termed 'leading the witness'....

[_Samantabhadra]

How do you believe that same sex marriages would damage our social fabric and would be harmful to children?

I'm not sure that it would. But I think we should tread carefully. I am very concerned about the normalization of surrogate pregnancies, which I see as deeply symptomatic of the kind of damage I am talking about. If one woman contributes an egg, a second woman carries the fetus in her womb, and the child is raised by two men, who is its "mother"? How is a female child to understand what it means to be a mother?

I hope you see the direction of my concern. To me this is wrapped up in our policy for families generally, like the widespread and easy availability of no-fault divorce.

[_Drifting]

How do you believe that same sex marriages would damage our social fabric and would be harmful to children?

I'm not sure that it would. But I think we should tread carefully. I am very concerned about the normalization of surrogate pregnancies, which I see as deeply symptomatic of the damage I am talking about. If one woman contributes an egg, a second woman carries the fetus in her womb, and the child is raised by two men, who is its "mother"? How is a female child to understand what it means to be a mother?

I hope you see the direction of my concern.

I wonder how the world's population coped before marriage was invented?
Were there lots and lots of dysfunctional children running around or did 'nature find a way'?
(homage to Jurrassic Park)

The animal kingdom seems to cope reasonably well without having an institution called 'marriage'. And there are even examples within it where same sex couples raise offspring just as successfully as heterosexual animals.

[_zeezrom]

I'm not going to read much on this thread. I'm only going to say that I read an article in the paper today about a 14-yr old boy who killed himself. He was bullied in school after telling classmates he was gay.

Does the Mormon Church realize they have only added to the hate with their actions?

[_Drifting]

I'm not going to read much on this thread. I'm only going to say that I read an article in the paper today about a 14-yr old boy who killed himself. He was bullied in school after telling classmates he was gay.

Does the Mormon Church realize they have only added to the hate with their actions?

They not only realize it, they believe God told them to do it.
(With due respect to Elder Jenson who seems to be an exception)

[_Kishkumen]

I wonder how the world's population coped before marriage was invented?
Were there lots and lots of dysfunctional children running around or did 'nature find a way'?
(homage to Jurrassic Park)

The animal kingdom seems to cope reasonably well without having an institution called 'marriage'. And there are even examples within it where same sex couples raise offspring just as successfully as heterosexual animals.

The marriage arrangement worked well for centuries. Some would argue that this is evidence of a kind of success in cultural evolution. I can understand the concern, and I am not eager to call anyone who is concerned about rushing into gay marriage a homophobe. Changing a tradition of centuries, especially one tied so intimately to our biological and reproductive lives, is not something to take lightly.