Sexual Orientation of Parents Does Not Really Matter

(Blogmensgo, gay blog of January 10, 2017) A team of the University of Kentucky, led by professor Rachel H. Farr, found out that the sexual orientation of parents has no particular effect on school-age children’s behavior. This study, published by the journal Developmental Psychology on October 20, 2016, confirms that same-sex parents and adoption do not negatively impact adopted children.

Rachel Farr and her team studied 96 families with children, one half with straight and the other half with gay or lesbian parents. The title of the study is: Does Parental Sexual Orientation Matter? A Longitudinal Follow-Up of Adoptive Families With School-Age Children.

The study reveals that the parents’ sexual orientation (gay, lesbian or heterosexual) has not effect on school-age children, neither in terms of their social behavior with other children, their parent and other persons, nor on the functioning of the family.

If the children had any problems, they were not the result of the adoptive parents’ sexual orientation but were related to the parents’ stress levels before and during adoption.

In all 96 cases, the children were adopted as babies, and the researchers followed the families over several years.

Rachel Farr’s team did not find significant differences in terms of behavior, stress levels, relations in the couple, functioning of the family and social adaption between families with same-sex and opposite-sex parents.

The study concluded that adoption by homosexual parents has no negative impact on the parental couples or the adopted children. Rachel Farr therefore suggests modifying all laws and regulations to prohibit any imaginary (and homophobic) convictions and ideas.

Comment: Although this may not be very new or surprising, it certainly is a clear statement and wake-up call with scientific substantiation.

By the way: For the 2017-2018 season, Rachel Farr is looking for postgraduates for her research institute, which particularly focuses on LGBT families and parents.

Frank-S / MensGo
Initial source: The Huffington Post Canada, January 5, 2017.