Gay Parents Raise 'Healthier, Happier Kids' - on Average

http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/new-study-gay-parents-raise-healthier-happier-kids-despite-conservatives-best


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I'm not sure when tradition became a bad thing, but it seems to be nowadays.

Kohadre wrote: I'm not sure when tradition became a bad thing, but it seems to be nowadays.

When, "Well we have always done things this way." quits working, then it is time to look at things to fix...

Maybe mom is a terrible cook...

Maybe dad cant concentrate on paying bills...

Maybe mom cant sew a stitch, and dad is a tailor....

Maybe dad cant get a good job, but mom who has a degree in something, can be the breadwinner...

Its called evolution, lol...

I think what he was referring to was this, and the natural conclusion it points towards….


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Even though it doesn’t say it, the way the entire thing is worded and what it feels like it is pointing towards is that traditional couples will have less happy kids and that if we want to have happier children we would pair up with the same sex.

Where that might be great for some, it wouldn’t work for others.

I may be willing to suggest that a well-balanced family, no matter if what the sex of the parents are, will spur happy children. And vice versa.

I know that a lot of people don't think about it, and I fail at it from time to time, but it's not always so much what you say as how you say it.

Percentage-wise, I would think hetro families outnumber same sex families, vastly...

So, really, they are samplling a very small number I would think...

But I dont know, lol...

I was talking to a gay friend of mine one time, and after talking for a few minutes, I wondered if the success of the gay relationships is due to an openness that hetro families lack... And opennss to something different...

Difference is generally frowned up, lol...

Sorry if I missed your point Kohadre...

This is why I added "on Average" to the title which I noted was absent on the article.

Also Jestor, they did not study hetero-couples, their results were in comparison to results already gathered by someone else.

I would postulate that even in todays hetrerosexual relationships are healthier and kids are happier on average.

I know for a fact, that my parents were better than there parents.

I am better than my parents.

On the average, I think people are consciously and unconsciously applying this formula.

My father was racist, but did not want me to be at all. Which made for an odd cognitive dissonance until I heard the phrase do as I say, not as I do.

There is something to be said for the passage of time.

On the average, we all live in a much more progressive time then even two generations ago.

Really look at the world two generations ago. technologically certainly, but also how the subject of race, homosexuality, etc,etc, were addressed.

Its absolutely staggering how far we have actually come.

Yes, there is still racism, and homophobia, etc.

There always will be, though it will eventually be an extreme minority( If its not already, I dont have precise numbers.)

However there is a staggering progression in the acceptance of these things.

I think it does indeed have to do with how open things are that is directly responsible for healthier and happier relationships altogether.

Not being open to something different, just learning to be open.

Of course, I am an optimist.

Jestor wrote: Percentage-wise, I would think hetro families outnumber same sex families, vastly...

So, really, they are samplling a very small number I would think...

But I dont know, lol...

I was talking to a gay friend of mine one time, and after talking for a few minutes, I wondered if the success of the gay relationships is due to an openness that hetro families lack... And opennss to something different...

Difference is generally frowned up, lol...

Sorry if I missed your point Kohadre...

Difference in my experience is not only frowned upon Jestor, but Vilified to a great degree.

And no worries, I could see how my point could be somewhat ambiguous.

In order for society to progress, tradition must be broken. In order for society to have some degree of stability and normalcy, tradition must be upheld.

In order for society to progress, tradition must be broken. In order for society to have some degree of stability and normalcy, tradition must be upheld.

Tradition must be upheld, but its validity to the current times and values must be weighed as well...

And adapt to the values of the current times and values....

but not too quick as to be thought flighty, or too slow [strike]to be thought of like the Catholics[/strike], er, I mean to be thought of as old, and outdated... (like me, lol)

I agree completely....

I've had the pleasure of knowing various families with gay parents, including one family with 3 kids (why?!).

What I've noticed might be seem an obvious observation, but part of the reason that gay parents might raise 'healthier, happier kids' on average has to do with how much they go through to have or adopt children. Most straight couples have the privilege of being able to have sex and produce offspring, whereas this is typically far more complicated in gay relationships (even lesbian relationships) and involves legal issues and other considerations and obstacles that heterosexual couples don't generally have to face.

The gay parents I know really, really love their kids and genuinely appreciate what it means to be a family. I'm not saying heterosexual couples don't (of course they do), but I am saying that gay parents don't take anything for granted.

As far as tradition goes, many LGBT people feel a little weird about how it's taken the 'normalization' of gay relationships for any kind of real acceptance to come about in the general population. On the other hand, we're pleased that we're now being seen as human beings, so there are mixed feelings when it comes to the topic of tradition.

LGBT people have had plenty of their own traditions in the past... many of which, unfortunately, are disappearing... largely because they are no longer deemed necessary in recent years, but also because LGBT people seem to know less and less about their history and what brought us to the point where we are now. Gay culture and history are (for better or worse) becoming more and more irrelevant.

I and others in the LGBT community are progressive, open-minded, and willing to accept that traditions change, but I believe that, like any other minority that is in the process of blending with the larger majority and learning to take on new traditions, LGBT culture and history should continue to be remembered and celebrated (especially by those within the community).

Ideally, I'd love to see all forms of LGBT people (and people, in general), lifestyles, and behaviors granted more acceptance and appreciation. The effeminate male or butch female should be just as respectable as straight acting gay men or lipstick lesbians. Gay families without children shouldn't be measured against those who choose to emulate modern heterosexual traditions and have 2.5 kids (nor should gay parents be measured against straight parents, for that matter).

Gay, bisexual, lesbian, transgender, and queer people are ultimately no different from anyone else in ways that are important - and our genders and sexual orientations, while significant, don't drive us apart. We choose to emphasize our differences and see dividing lines where there are none.

Traditions often play a role in marking these lines in the sand, which is why I would suggest that we benefit from recognizing traditions, but that forgetting not to break down traditional frameworks in order to restructure them every once in a while - or not seeing them as symbols of unification or tools for creating connections and building communities that honor diversity - is a mistake.

It is an interesting time, as we are getting to see how LGBT families (and families within other minority groups) are helping to change traditions that have been in place for hundreds years. There are those who are kicking and screaming at the moment, but in the end I strongly suspect they'll get tired of using up all that energy and realize they've been working against a common good.

I wrote all of this and then I had that familiar, silly thought, 'None of this would matter if there were an alien invasion.' People have a hard time seeing past their little bubbles - their personal perceptions of reality and what they think it means to be a human being (ideas that often exclude the thoughts and feelings of others).

I always carry a safety pin with me so I can pop those bubbles when I encounter them. And sometimes I have to stretch my hand outward and pop my own bubble.