LGBTQ adoption has been in the news lately as some states, specifically Illinois, have prohibited state funded adoption agencies from discriminating against any un-married couple. While states such as Virginia, continue to not allow LGBTQ couples to adopt, though the state will allow a LGBTQ person to adopt if they are single.
A recent journal article published by LiveScience researched the similarities and differences between children raised by heterosexual couples and children raised by LGBTQ couples, and ultimately found that it is the quality of the parent and not the gender or sexual orientation that really matters.
The Urban Institute commissioned a report in 2007 that showed just how interested LGBTQ couples are in growing their family through adoption. According to the LiveScience article, the report found that “more then half of gay men and 41 percent of lesbians in the US would like to adopt.” The report said that these numbers added up to about two million potential adoptive parents.
In the article, Abbie Goldberg, who is a psychologist at Clark University and researches gay and lesbian parenting, said that LGBTQ parents “tend to be more motivated, more committed than heterosexual parents on average, because they chose to be parents.” Goldberg went onto say that the accidental pregnancy rate is close to 50 percent among heterosexuals, while “gays and lesbians rarely become parents by accident.”
According to the article, research has shown that children with LGBTQ parents show minimal differences in “achievement, mental health social functioning and other measures.” These kids also have the advantage of “open-mindedness, tolerance and role models for equitable relationships,” the article said.
The article stressed that there are many heterosexual couples that instill these same qualities in their children, which shows one of the main findings of the report; that sexual orientation does not affect ones parenting skills.
According to Judith Stacey, who is a sociologist in New York, much of the research against LGBTQ adoption is misrepresented because it compares children with two parents to children with single parents instead of children with heterosexual parents and children with LGBTQ parents.
“Two good parents are better than one parent,” Stacey said in the article “but one good parent is better than two bad parents. And gender seems to make no difference.”
Adoption STAR’s goal is to find families for children, and in doing so we work with a diverse clientele including: single parents and LGBTQ and heterosexual couples. For more information on Adoption STAR’s domestic infant adoption program, please click here. If you’d like information on our International adoption programs, please visit this link.
To read the complete journal article on Yahoo! News, please click here.