Are two Mommies as good as a Mom and a Dad?
Same-sex couples are just as good at raising well-adjusted, healthy kids as heterosexual couples according a new study published in the February issue of the Journal of Marriage and Family.
According to HealthDay on Yahoo:
” ‘There’s a deeply held and widespread view out there that children need both a mother and a father to do well,’ said study author Judith Stacey, a professor of sociology and of social and cultural analysis at New York University in New York City. ‘And it seems to be a bipartisan conviction — with a lot of public policy based on that premise — since literally both President Bush and President Obama have said exactly that.’ ”
“ ‘But the point is that this orthodoxy is supposedly supported not just by a belief, but by actual research,’ Stacey noted. ‘Yet we found that, in fact, there is no research that shows that children need both a mother and a father. And we looked everywhere.’ “
Stacey and study co-author Timothy J. Biblarz, chairman of the sociology department at the University of Southern California, reviewed 81 studies conducted since 1990 that fell into one of two categories: two-parent family studies comparing lesbian couples with heterosexual couples in terms of parenting skills and/or the psychological and social well-being of their children; and studies that compared single-mother parenting with that of single-fathers.
The researchers found that social class and educational background seemed to affect the manner in which someone parents as opposed to gender.
” ‘The bottom line is that it is the quality of parenting, not the gender of the parents, that matters for child outcomes,’ said Stacey.”
They predict the same would be true for gay men as well but there hasn’t been as much research in that area.
Norval D. Glenn, a professor in the department of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin and an advisor to the Center for Marriage and Families at the Institute for American Values, a conservative think tank in New York City, says much more research much to be done to safely conclude same-sex parents are just as good.
What do you think: Are two Mommies as good as a Mom and Dad? Why or why not? Do you agree the quality of parenting outweighs the sex of the parent? What are your thoughts on the opposite scenario of two men?
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321 comments Add your comment
FCM
January 29th, 2010
3:20 pm
JATL I am with you on that…that burn baby burn thing cracked me up. Like basically telling me to go to hell makes the poster a good Christian. ROFLMAO.
Richard Swingin
January 29th, 2010
4:22 pm
FCM, when did “guilt” enter the picture. you know “god loves you because he made you” and god is all-knowing (”he sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake…”), BUT you still feel “guilt” when you mess up? and you don’t understand why this confuses me? did your god create “guilt”? of course not. guilt was created by people like Realist (homosapiens) and the clergy (”men of god”) to shape human behavior. why would god create us, but allow us to suffer with guilt? seems to me he could have just filled up heaven with a bunch of “good” people and spared us all this experiment in morality/ethics.
Tiger needs me on his PR team
January 29th, 2010
4:41 pm
hey Rich….just out of curiosity….what do you think happens in the afterlife? I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have an opinion myself.
Tiger needs me on his PR team
January 29th, 2010
4:45 pm
let me rephrase that..what do you think happens when a person dies? Do you think there is continuance of anything?
Uconn
January 29th, 2010
5:00 pm
@tiger .. Do you? I am so starting to think that there is…
FCM
January 29th, 2010
5:01 pm
Richard go find where I said I pray for forgiveness…that was what Realist et all were saying.
FCM
January 29th, 2010
5:01 pm
or to realive guilt. I could swear I said that whatever I said to God was between He and Me.
FCM
January 29th, 2010
5:02 pm
FCM
January 29th, 2010
10:30 am
Realist to continually repent with an untrue heart is an abomination to the Lord and much worse than my sinning. What I tell God is between me and Him and absolutely NONE of your concern. Nice to know that He put you on his court of judges, must be nice to be sinless. Glass houses don’t you know. Now go back and read the real point of what I said.
Yep no taling about asking for forgivness in that.
Richard Swingin
January 29th, 2010
5:03 pm
Tiger, I guess my answer would be; I just don’t know. I tell my child that the “continuance” is in DNA. “there’s a little bit of grandpop and grandmom in me, and there is a little bit of me and your mom in you.” I know people (blood relatives) who’ve experienced “the light at the end of the tunnel” and “hovering over a hospital room” while in a coma, but these could be dreams or heavily influenced by drugs, brain injury, etc. so again, I just don’t know and I have no tangible or scientific evidence to suggest anything more than just darkness and death. sure it’s fun to speculate on a barstool somewhere with a pint or scotch on the rocks, but I honestly don’t give it much thought. used to worry about it all the time (when I was a believer).
Richard Swingin
January 29th, 2010
5:09 pm
FCM, at 3:15 you posted: “Richard the way I understand it we confess our misdeeds to help US with the guilt not actually get the forgiveness. God loves me becuase he made me.” Sounds to me you “confess” to help with “guilt”.
FCM
January 29th, 2010
5:12 pm
I never said I confess anything…my dialogue regarding prayer etc goes back to that idiot Realist.
butif you think I confess that is fine.
I am not telling you or anyone else what I tell God. It is NunYa.
That would be why I never converted to Catholocism….see Richard I like you took a look at several religions and faiths before determing what I believe.
Tiger needs me on his PR team
January 29th, 2010
5:14 pm
@UCONN….here’s what I believe…if it’s simple enough for someone to tell me what happens when you die…that’s probably not it.
I’ll make one exception to that rule, which is you die..and that’s it….no soul, no spirit, nada, snuffed out like the flame on candle. That’s the only theory that’s been presented to me that I can think is plausible. That’s not to say it’s right…it’s just SO tidy and simple that it makes sense to me.
On a side note…I really HOPE it’s not right….because I really do have a fun time living and I wouldn’t mind doing it all over again!
Richard Swingin
January 29th, 2010
5:28 pm
FCM, it’s really not a big deal, but you did not say your post had anything to with “that idiot Realist”. I asked you a question about your communication with an all-knowing god and you said; “as I understand it, (not “as Realist understands it”) WE confess our misdeeds to help us with the guilt…” Now, I don’t want to get all first grade grammar on your behind, but when you use the pronoun “we” you are including yourself. and, I don’t care what you tell your god, but I do find it odd that you have evaluated a bunch of different faiths before determining what you “believe”. I know I’m just a dumb pagan, but either there is one true god/faith or there is not. your process of elimination renders any and all faiths as untrue. now, as I said yesterday, if you embrace a specific dogma as part of a concious lifestyle choice (many Buddhists refer to the practice as a lifestyle, not a religion), then have at it, but again, nobody needs a “god” to embrace a lifestyle. ask a secular humanist
FCM
January 29th, 2010
5:41 pm
Tiger & Richard I would love to sit and talk to you both at bar, a beach or wherever.
I have many beliefs that you might find surprising:
No Hell
Coded DNA to seek to touch the Noodly Appendage
No Predestination
That Buddhist, Christians, Jews, etc (well not those worshiping satan) are actually talking about the same thing The reason they have differences go back to what Richard keeps rambling about Man inventions
The 144,000 in Revelations are the not the onlys that “get there” (nope don’t know exactly where there is and cannot find it on a map)
That Prayer does connect to us the Supreme Being whatever He/She maybe called
That despite the fact I do not believe exactly the way people like Realist ect do I am part of a “We” in the larger body as opposed to those (like Richard) who seem to insist that their is no body to be part of
I believe it is about the relationships
I believe that the Covenant is renewed every day and it is we (MAN this time) that need it that way because it is we (again just Man not a faith) that break it.
Richard I am not going to sit and defend ANYTHING to you.
Tiger appreciate that you “get it” that I am allowed to believe and not be judged by the likes of Richard or Realist. Just as they are allowed to believe what they do in the same way.
The funny thing is I often get accused of being the ugly trouble maker with this kind of thing…yet go find before I called Realist and idiot (for which I apologize because I should not be judging) that was nearly as mean and unrelenting sanctimonous about anything they said.
Tiger needs me on his PR team
January 29th, 2010
5:55 pm
I don’t know if Realist is an idiot of not…I do think he/she believes that his/her fervent belief in whatever spirituality he/she is slinging gives him/her the right to be really mean and cruel to people…which hey, we’re all adults, we’re wise enough to realize his/her posts say a damn sight more about him/her than us.
Tiger needs me on his PR team
January 29th, 2010
6:03 pm
@FCM…I can understand getting to the breaking point with some like Realist. I posted a rant for the ages to Betsy today. I usually try to stay away from the personal attacks, but sometimes you have to become the beast to fight the beast, you know?
FCM
January 29th, 2010
6:15 pm
Yeah Tiger I get it. I am heading home. My folks took the kiddos. I wish you and yours a wonderful weekend. :)
catlady
January 30th, 2010
10:29 am
A few weeks ago I was putting kids in cars when a woman came up for “Susie”. I was puzzled, as Susie had already been picked up by a woman that I see her with frequently. I thought she was Susie’s aunt. I responded to Mom, “Susie has already been picked up by the other lady” and she corrected me, “That was my partner, Susie’s other mom” First time in 38 years (that I am aware of) that I have had that happen. I just had never thought about it (NOT MY BUSINESS ANYWAY)
Sad Commentary
February 6th, 2010
7:42 pm
In my opinion if the parent or parents are loving, supportive, have good values, and raise their children to be caring, productive members of our society it doesn’t matter whether they are same sex or not. There are good and bad examples on both sides of the equation but at the end of the day we should be concerned with nurturing and preserving high quality parenting NOT excluding any scenario. In the case of same sex couples those families can solicit the support of opposite sex individuals to assist in giving children that “balance” that many posters bring up. It’s not much different when families adopt or foster children of a different race or culture and the parents make the effort to keep the child connected to their roots. Or the grandparents raising their grandchildren or the parent whose spouse left them, died, etc. Single parents/grandparents do this all the time using mentors, boys and girls club, etc. There are innumerable success stories. Why is it so difficult for some posters to open their minds to what is most important which is raising well balanced, secure, responsible children who help to make the world a better place. Throughout NATURE homosexuality is present. It’s a small percentage but there nevertheless. The continuation of our species isn’t in danger of ending due to homosexuality. “Social Stigma” is imposed on people by close minded individuals.
JA
February 15th, 2010
12:39 pm
I think it takes a mom and a dad to raise a child. A daughter needs a father to build self esteem and her mother to teach her the ways of being a women. A son needs a mother to show him love and caring ways and a father to teach him how to be a man. Same sex parents do not give both the physical and emotional needs of a child that is needed by both sexes.
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7:02 am
[...] and Family. Theresa focused on one aspect of the study earlier this year in a blog entitled, “Are two mommies as good as a mom and a dad?” However, the Atlantic writer takes the analysis a step further and wonders whether fathers are [...]