This week, as promised, I am talking about the study of how parenting of two males fare compared to heterosexual parenting. Oddly enough, even though there have been numerous studies on same-sex female couples, there is considerably less to almost no studies on how same-sex couples comprised of two males fare in parenting. The study I talked about last week stated that this was because they couldn’t find enough correspondents to make a sizable data pool for a child raised by two fathers. Other studies claim a similar problem when trying to use how children fare with being raised by two fathers.
This new study tried to counteract the idea by using the far-reaching and powerful tool called the internet. Amazing. The researchers conducted an online survey across 47 states, receiving 732 respondents -- a rather larger data pool compared to most previous studies. The survey included many of the same questions used in the 2012 National Health Internet Survey conducted by the CDC. This study exclusively asked correspondents of heterosexual parents because, at the time, the government didn’t really want to acknowledge homosexual parents. (Oh, how far have we come.) The more recent survey took a few extra steps, asking how the fathers obtained their children and if they experienced any discrimination: a question that is a direct response to the parental stress found in the study that came out recently about two mothers.
The results found in this study were almost identical to the CDC’s study. The frequency of going out on family outings was just as frequent. Eighty-eight percent of these fathers found their child was perfectly happy compared to the 87 percent from a heterosexual family. Seventy-two percent found that their kids didn't worry a lot compared to the 75 percent in a heterosexual family. They also found that 36 percent of these fathers got their children from a previous heterosexual relationship, 38 percent from adoption and 14 percent with the assistance of a carrier. The other 12 percent were obtained by some other method.
This study also found that yes, these same sex parents did face discrimination for being gay. Thirty-three percent of the fathers who conceived their child from a previous relationship had a hard time getting shared custody on the grounds of their sexuality. Forty-one percent of the fathers who tried to adopt were faced with attempted denial of adopting a child because of their sexuality. Also, 18 percent of the fathers who tried for a surrogate mother found they were denied for the same reasons. Almost a third of all these male couples said they faced discrimination for being gay parents either from family, religion or neighbors.
Yet, despite all of this, the kids seem to be alright. This is further proof to help explain the added parental stress that was found in lesbian mothers in a different study. Unsurprisingly, the kids seemed to be just as fine in that study, too. Seeing a pattern here?
This study is a nice addition to the world's lack of knowledge of male couples as parents. With one to nine million children raised by homosexual parents and 594,000 same-sex couple households with over 27 percent having children, it's nice to see that these parents are apparently just as good. Keep in mind that there are still 415,129 children in foster care, and a new child entering foster care every two minutes -- there is a plethora of children who still need a loving home, but 41 percent of the fathers who got their child through that route faced problems based on their sexuality, (and this isn't even including the parents who were outright denied adoption).
Hopefully this study might finally help put to rest the idea that homosexual couples shouldn't be parents. In the long run, preventing a child from being accepted into a loving home is more detrimental than them being raised by two dads. Frankly, the fact that this is even a debate is absolutely ridiculous.
