Are children who are raised by gay parents more likely to be gay themselves?
PRO (yes)
CON (no)
The American College of Pediatricians (ACP), a national organization of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals, wrote the following information in its Jan. 22, 2004 article "Homosexual Parenting: Is It Time for Change?," published on its website ACPeds.org:
"Data on the long-term outcomes of
children placed in homosexual households is sparse and gives reason for
concern. This research has revealed that children reared in homosexual
households are more likely to experience sexual confusion, engage in
risky sexual experimentation, and later adopt a homosexual identity.
This is concerning since adolescents and young adults who adopt the
homosexual lifestyle, are at increased risk for mental health problems,
including major depression, anxiety disorders, conduct disorder,
substance dependence, and especially suicidal ideation and suicide
attempts..."
Trayce L. Hansen, PhD, psychologist and cultural commentator, wrote the following information in her article "Pro-Homosexual Researchers Conceal Findings: Children Raised by Openly Homosexual Parents More Likely to Engage in Homosexuality," accessed from her website, DrTrayceHansen.com, on May 29, 2009:
"I think that although these studies
can't be used to make definitive statements, they are suggestive that
homosexual parents are rearing disproportionate numbers of
non-heterosexual children. This isn't surprising since parents are the
primary influencers of children… Based on the average found in the
following nine studies, 14% of children raised by homosexual parents
develop homosexual or bisexual preferences. These studies reported
rates of non-heterosexuality ranging from 8% to 21%. The most
frequently reported percentages were 14% and 16% (two studies each).
For comparison purposes, data from the best national surveys report
that approximately 2% of the general population is non-heterosexual…
The preceding nine studies suggest that children raised by homosexual
or bisexual parents are approximately 7 times more likely than the
general population to develop a non-heterosexual sexual preference."
Judith Stacey, PhD, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis of the Department of Sociology at New York University, and Timothy J. Biblarz, PhD, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Southern California, wrote in an Apr. 2001 article, "(How) Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?" published by the American Sociological Review:
"The sexual orientation of parents
appears to have a unique (although not large) effect on children in the
politically sensitive domain of sexuality. The evidence, while scanty
and underanalyzed, hints that parental sexual orientation is positively
associated with the possibility that children will be more likely to
attain a similar orientation - and theory and common sense also support
such a view. Children raised by lesbian co-parents should and do seem
to grow up more open to homoerotic relationships. This may be partly
due to genetic and family socialization processes, but what
sociologists refer to as 'contextual effects' not yet investigated by
psychologists may also be important...
We
recognize the political dangers of pointing out that recent studies
indicate that a higher proportion of children with lesbigay [lesbian and gay] parents
are themselves apt to engage in homosexual activity. In a homophobic
world, anti-gay forces deploy such results to deny parents custody of
their children and to fuel backlash movements opposed to gay rights.
Nonetheless, we believe that denying this probability capitulates to
heterosexist ideology and is apt to prove counterproductive in the long
run. It is neither intellectually honest nor politically wise to base
a claim for justice on grounds that may prove falsifiable empirically."
Paul D. Cameron, PhD, Chairman of the Family Research Institute, et al. wrote in a May 2006 article, "Children of Homosexuals and Transsexuals More Apt to be Homosexual," published in the Journal of Biosocial Science:
"Do the sexual inclinations of parents
influence those of their children? Of 77 adult children of homosexual
parents who volunteered for three different investigations, at least 23
(30%) were currently homosexual: twelve (55%) of 22 daughters and three
(21%) of fourteen sons of lesbians; five (29%) of seventeen daughters
and three (17%) of eighteen sons of gays; none of six sons with both a
gay and a lesbian parent. At least 25 (32%) were currently
heterosexual. Of the ten with transsexual parents, one of nine
daughters was currently lesbian, one was currently heterosexual, and
one was transsexual. The son's sexual preference was not reported.
These findings suggest that parents' sexual inclinations influence
their children's."
The American Psychological Association (APA), a national organization of psychologists, adopted the following official policy statement on June 30, 2004 titled "Sexual Orientation, Parents, and Children," published on its website APA.org:
"There is no scientific basis for concluding that
lesbian mothers or gay fathers are unfit parents on the basis of their
sexual orientation... As
the social visibility and legal status of lesbian and gay parents has
increased... concerns about the influence of lesbian and gay parents on
children have been often voiced... Results of social science research
have failed to confirm these concerns about children of lesbian and gay
parents...
Research suggests that sexual identities (including
gender identity, gender-role behavior, and sexual orientation) develop
in much the same ways among children of lesbian mothers as they do
among children of heterosexual parents."
J. Michael Bailey, PhD, Psychology Professor at Northwestern University, et al. wrote the following statements in their study "Sexual Orientation of Adult Sons of Gay Fathers," published in the Jan. 1995 issue of Developmental Psychology:
"The sexual development of children of gay and lesbian parents is interesting for both scientific andsocial reasons. [Our study]
is the largest to date to focus on the sexual orientation of adult sons
of gay men. From advertisements in gay publications, 55 gay or bisexual
men were recruited who reported on 82 sons at least 17 years of age.
More than 90% of sons whose sexual orientations could be rated were
heterosexual. Furthermore, gay and heterosexual sons did not differ on
potentially relevant variables such as the length of time they had
lived with their fathers. Results suggest that any environmental
influence of gay fathers on their sons' sexual orientation is not
large."
Norman Anderssen, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bergen, Norway, et al. wrote in a Feb. 2002 article, "Outcomes for Children with Lesbian or Gay Parents. A Review of Studies from 1978 to 2000," published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology:
"Twenty-three
empirical studies published between 1978 and 2000 on nonclinical
children raised by lesbian mothers or gay fathers were reviewed (one
Belgian/Dutch, one Danish, three British, and 18 North American).
Twenty reported on offspring of lesbian mothers, and three on offspring
of gay fathers. The studies encompassed a total of 615 offspring (age
range 1.5-44 years) of lesbian mothers or gay fathers and 387 controls,
who were assessed by psychological tests, questionnaires or interviews.
Seven types of outcomes were found to be typical: emotional
functioning, sexual preference, stigmatization, gender role behavior,
behavioral adjustment, gender identity, and cognitive functioning.
Children raised by lesbian mothers or gay fathers did not
systematically differ from other children on any of the outcomes. The
studies indicate that children raised by lesbian women do not
experience adverse outcomes compared with other children. The same
holds for children raised by gay men..."
The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP), a non-profit organization offering education on child psychiatry issues, wrote the following in its June 1999 "Statement in Support of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Parents," published on its website AACAP.org:
“There is no evidence to suggest or support that parents with a gay, lesbian, or bisexual orientation
are per se different from or deficient in parenting skills,
child-centered concerns and parent-child attachments, when compared to
parents with a heterosexual orientation. It has long been established
that a homosexual orientation is not related to psychopathology, and
there is no basis on which to assume that a parental homosexual
orientation will increase likelihood of or induce a homosexual
orientation in the child."
James G. Pawelski, MD, Director of the Division of State Government Affairs at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), et al. wrote in a July 2006 article "The Effects of Marriage, Civil Union, and Domestic Partnership Laws on the Health and Well-being of Children," published in Pediatrics:
"The
gender identity of preadolescent children raised by lesbian mothers has
been found consistently to be in line with their biological gender.
None of >500 children studied have shown evidence of gender-identity
confusion, wished to be the other gender, or consistently engaged in
cross-gender behavior. No differences have been found in the toy, game,
activity, dress, or friendship preferences of boys or girls who had
lesbian mothers, compared with those who had heterosexual mothers...
Using
data from a national sample of adolescents, no difference was found on
the basis of whether the parents were the same or different genders in
the proportion of adolescents who reported having had sexual
intercourse, nor was a difference found in the number who reported
having a 'romantic relationship' within the past 18 months. So few
adolescents in either group reported same-gender attractions or
same-gender romantic relationships that a statistical comparison was
not possible. A long-term follow-up of adolescents raised by single
lesbian mothers after divorce revealed similarly that their gender-role
orientation (level of masculinity or femininity) was similar to those
who were raised by a single heterosexual mother after divorce or by a
heterosexual couple. Boys from single heterosexual mother and lesbian
mother families scored higher on the scale of femininity, but they did
not differ on the score of masculinity."
Peer-Reviewed Studies on the Origin of Sexual Orientation Since 1990
