Lesbian and Gay Moms And Dads

Numerous lesbians and men that are gay parents. When you look at the 2000 U. S. Census, 33% of female couple that is same-sex and 22% of male same-sex couple households reported a minumum of one son or daughter underneath the chronilogical age of 18 located in your home. Regardless of the presence that is significant of minimum 163,879 households headed by lesbian or homosexual moms and dads in U.S. culture, three major issues about lesbian and gay moms and dads can be voiced (Falk, 1994; Patterson, Fulcher & Wainright, 2002). These generally include issues that lesbians and homosexual males are mentally sick, that lesbians are less maternal than heterosexual females, and that lesbians’ and gay guys’s relationships making use of their intimate lovers leave short amount of time because of their children to their relationships. Generally speaking, research has did not give a foundation for just about any among these issues (Patterson, 2000, 2004a; Perrin, 2002; Tasker, 1999; Tasker & Golombok, 1997). First, homosexuality just isn’t a mental disorder (Conger, 1975). Although visibility to prejudice and discrimination centered on intimate orientation could cause severe stress (Mays & Cochran, 2001; Meyer, 2003), there isn’t any dependable proof that homosexual orientation per se impairs mental functioning. 2nd, thinking that lesbian and homosexual grownups aren’t healthy parents don’t have any empirical foundation (Patterson, 2000, 2004a; Perrin, 2002). Lesbian and heterosexual ladies have actually maybe perhaps not been discovered to vary markedly inside their methods to son or daughter rearing (Patterson, 2000; Tasker, 1999). People in homosexual and lesbian couples with kids have now been discovered to divide the job tangled up in childcare evenly, also to be satisfied with their relationships along with their lovers (Patterson, 2000, 2004a). Continue reading →