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

What I took from this was that if parents share duties fairly and treat each other well, the children are provided with a stable home life and positive role models.

There is nothing in the article that suggests that being in a same-sex marriage is the only way to achieve that. It merely suggests that an equitable arrangement happens more easily in the context of a same-sex marriage.

I must confess, I do not understand why people might regard these findings, or same-sex marriage in general, at all challenging, let alone threatening. Very strange to me.

As for tradition, it is only valuable insofar as it serves. Sure, we use our traditions to cement our identities, but why would anyone want to be identified by a tradition that operates against him or herself or anyone he or she loves?

We studied these figures in my Marriage and the Family class in school, there were some fascinating articles from the perspective of some of the partners. It was a good read, and one of the most interesting parts of the whole class. It just goes to show how out of touch with reality some of these silly anti-gay activists are. Parenting isn't about having two different sexes in the household, it's about having two caring adults who best serve the needs of the child.

Traditions are a wonderful way to honor the past, however if this attachment to the past becomes detrimental to the present/future then it is time to move on and form new traditions....

You have to be careful with studies and what they mean....

http://blog.seattlepi.com/mommyfiles/2014/07/07/aussie-study-finds-kids-of-same-sex-parents-live-in-harmonious-households/

For the study, researchers from the University of Melbourne focused on the survey results from 315 same-sex parents representing 500 kids, ages 0 to 17. About 80 percent of the children had female parents, and 18 percent male.

Am I to conclude that on average, 80% of homosexual families's children have female parents, 18% male, and 2% neither?

When comparing groups you have to take everything into account. Profession, economic situation, number of hours worked, size of home, location, type of education the children are getting, etc...
http://www.phillesbian.com/2013/03/08/ucla-study-finds-lesbians-educated-richer-straight-women/

ren wrote: When comparing groups you have to take everything into account. Profession, economic situation, number of hours worked, size of home, location, type of education the children are getting, etc...

This can be said of everything...

Not to derail, and should someone want to discuss further, please open a new thread....

But, everything, including the observer, needs taken into account....

Nothing stands alone...

Its all interconnected...

Children's happiness and health however are directly linked to their parent's wealth and lifestyle. If you want to compare "hetero" children with "homo" kids, you need a control group, which in this case would be children with same backgrounds as the "homo" ones, with one difference: parents are hetero.
From what I can gather, this research has no control group, making it completely pointless. Not that its conclusions are necessarily incorrect. If homosexuals tend to make more money and have better lifestyles than their hetero couterparts, it makes sense they will be able to provide better childcare. Similarly for obvious reasons homos don't accidentally get kids, meaning they have kids when they're sure they want and can have one. Additionally persecuted groups tend to have stronger bonds. If a family is being persecuted for being homo, then they are more likely to "look out" for each other, something children respond positively to.

But the research itself is crap. It compares this set of data, which is gathered from people who volunteered (first hint for bias), and then compared to another set of data, "population normative data".

Then it goes on to say (in the research abstract), that "Children in same-sex parent families had higher scores on measures of general behavior, general health and family cohesion compared to population normative data".
" There were no significant differences between the two groups for all other scale scores."
"Physical activity, mental health, and family cohesion were all negatively associated with increased stigma".

Which in other words, says: children from the two groups (only one of which we actually studied) are basically identical. Except "homo" children have better general behaviour (except they're sedentary), better general health (except mentally), and we still haven't decided whether the stigma is a good or a bad thing for them, as it would seem more stigma = worse health, yet they're all (on average) doing better? Which suggests the research is incorrect or there was no stigma (which makes me wonder how they could gather data on it).

I think this may have a deeper source. Sometimes when you realize that you're different (for example Gay or Bisexual or Transgender), you have a chance of braking patterns and stop identifying with a role or stereotype. This can be a great help to get rid of the superficial idea or image that he have created about ourselves. Apart from that, same sex couples, when they decide to have children, they are mostly sure they want them. Also, they may educate them and teach them with values such as tolerance, equality, respect. Authenticity plays an important role because these children will not be scared of accepting who they are most of the times, for their parents have done it. I guess every case is unique and generalization is not the greatest thing to do, but I do think that if within the family the primary thing that is taught, encouraged and expressed is unconditional love, children will be happier and more successful.

Of course this is just my opinion and I think that everything that has been written on the topic is rather interesting.

Blessings!

Arcade wrote: has to do with how much they go through to have or adopt children.

True, or in other words: gay couples who have kids want them. Straight couples who have kids may or may not want them. It would be interesting to see a follow-on study that compares wanted vs unwanted outcomes and see if that explains the difference in this study.