Homosexual Adoption:
“For The Sake of the Children” – We Must Reject Homosexual Adoption

view the .pdf | note: all footnotes are included within the .pdf

March 2002

By Toni Meyer, Sr. Research Analyst for the NJ Family Policy Council.

The controversy over allowing homosexuals to adopt children heated up recently when the American Academy of Pediatrics voiced their support for homosexual adoption and popular talk show host Rosie O'Donnell did the same in an ABC Primetime Thursday segment “For the Sake of the Children”. For the sake of all our children, we need to look at all the facts regarding this issue – not just the ones strategically presented by the AAP and ABC’s Primetime Thursday program.

The announcement by the American Academy of Pediatrics said that based on their review of a “growing body of scientific literature” they support legal and legislative efforts to allow for same-sex adoption. This is a stunning conclusion because much of the research on this issue fails to meet acceptable standards for psychological research, and is compromised by methodological flaws such as inadequate sample size, and self-selected research participants which have no legitimate generalization to the larger population. In a similar fashion, the NJ courts have permitted homosexual adoption without basing their decision on solid research facts. Instead, both decisions were the result of politically correct agendas, advanced by a few powerful people.

In the case of the AAP, while a panel of 9 individuals made this announcement, a record number of Pediatrician AAP members are expressing their disagreement because they know that the research does not support homosexual adoption and they know what’s best for children.

As for the Primetime Thursday segment, let’s look at the facts with respect to some of the messages of this program. First, the tragic fact that children are trapped in the foster care system is not sufficient rationale for allowing homosexuals to adopt them. There are several lifestyle reasons, backed up by solid research, as to why these homes on the whole would not be desirable. A number of pathologies plague homes of same-sex couples, including higher rates of promiscuity (Journal of Sex Research 1997), physical disease, mental illness (Archives of General Psychiatry 1999), substance abuse (Nursing Research 1994, Family Planning Perspectives 1994), and domestic violence (The Medical Institutes for Sexual Health 1999).

Secondly, there is a mountain of solid, long-term, social science research showing that children who are raised with their married mother and father do far better in every measure of well-being than children who grow up in any other family situation. While Rosie acknowledged at one point that this “may be so”, she also stated, “What you need to be a good parent doesn’t have anything to do with sexuality ”. But it does. Children need both a mom and a dad in order to experience first-hand three of the most important relationships required for social development in a predominantly heterosexual world: husband/wife, mother/father and male/female.

Lastly, the broadcast interview of the selected researcher Dr. Judith Stacey, strongly downplayed the implications of her own April 2001 research published in American Sociological Review. It found that children of homosexual couples were more likely to be confused about their own sexual identity, more likely to engage in homosexual relationships and more likely to be promiscuous. She further states “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…” . For a detailed review of research on homosexual households and parenting, a comprehensive research paper by Tim Daily, Ph.D. can be found at the Family Research Council website. While the Primetime program did flash his paper on the screen, they did not answer the content. The deck was stacked, and this was not a Fox News “fair and balanced – we report, you decide” format.

As for New Jersey’s policy on homosexual adoption, the legislature should not be leaving this issue for the courts to decide. This is not a gay-rights issue, but rather a child welfare issue. We need to think about what is best for children, not what promotes a politically correct social experiment with vulnerable children living as live test subjects.

 

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