I read Alan Dias’ letter on gay parenting in the Aug. 7 Standard-Times and found his facts and arguments to be seriously flawed.
Dias begins by quoting a 1995 study by an Australian academic, Sotirios Sarantakos, that makes many claims about the result of gay parenting. It apparently doesn’t occur to some that gay parents often adopt, and these children are frequently troubled or developmentally delayed before they enter an adoptive home. A 2003 study by an Australian Law Reform Institute generally discredits Sarantakos’ findings. Among the problems with Sarantakos’ study, it turns out, are that many of the parenting issues found in single gay parent families are identical to those in single straight mother families.
Mr. Dias also quotes a University of Southern California study by Stacey and Biblarz and again makes sweeping generalizations about all gay parents. However, it turns out that the USC study is primarily based on single gay mothers. There was also not enough data on gay father families in this study to draw any conclusions.
This is hardly a study worth quoting.
If one wants to be a bit more thorough, there is other research (for example, Bigner and Jacobsen) which indicates that there is little difference between the parenting styles of gay and straight fathers. Or Flaks, Ficher, Masterpasqua and Joseph, which showed slightly better parenting awareness among gay parents. Or Green, Mandel, Hotvedt, et al, which showed no differences between IQ or social development among children in gay and straight families.
At the very least, the issue is far from settled. But who is Dias to pontificate on the suitability of parenting styles or to decide who is “dysfunctional”? In our society I see the results of horrible parenting every day, and the overwhelming majority of dysfunctional members of society have come from straight parents.
Gay unions and gay families are not a threat to the rest of us. The more people who grow up in stable, loving homes, the better. If Mr. Dias wants to prop up the institution of heterosexual marriage, he should start with the causes of divorce, which is now about 43 percent in the US.
It now takes two parents, each working the typical 50 hours a week, to make ends meet in this society. Vacations and leisure are virtually a thing of the past and it is a lucky family that has meals together. Why not start here instead?
This was published in the Standard Times on August 11, 2003
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20030811/opinion/308119935
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