Sexuality and Gender

New Study on Children of Same-Sex Parents

Author Amy K. Hall Published on 10/11/2013

Mark Regnerus comments on a new study from Canada (published in the Review of Economics of the Household) on the graduation rates of children living with same-sex parents:

The truly unique aspect of Allen’s study, however, may be its ability to distinguish gender-specific effects of same-sex households on children. He writes:

the particular gender mix of a same-sex household has a dramatic difference in the association with child graduation. Consider the case of girls. . . . Regardless of the controls and whether or not girls are currently living in a gay or lesbian household, the odds of graduating from high school are considerably lower than any other household type. Indeed, girls living in gay households are only 15 percent as likely to graduate compared to girls from opposite sex married homes.

Thus although the children of same-sex couples fare worse overall, the disparity is unequally shared, but is instead based on the combination of the gender of child and gender of parents. Boys fare better—that is, they’re more likely to have finished high school—in gay households than in lesbian households. For girls, the opposite is true. Thus the study undermines not only claims about “no differences” but also assertions that moms and dads are interchangeable. They’re not.

The truth is that men and women are different. They parent differently. They interact with boys and girls differently. They provide different things to their children.

Our culture is (and has been for decades) denying these differences in order to promote sameness­—in genders, roles, couples, etc. But reality has a way of asserting itself. We can recognize it, live within it, and promote human flourishing; or we can continue trying to force everyone into a new, more politically correct mold of a “better” human nature and suffer the consequences.

(HT: Lenny Esposito)