Current Status of Homosexual Marriages in America

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Homosexual Parenting

Literature Review on homosexual parenting

For a period extending back to the last twenty years, the number of households headed by same-sex parents in the United States has subtly increased. According to a unanimous agreement in the U.S. In 2010, the number of same-sex couples who stay together was estimated to be 646,464, out of which 514,735 were unmarried couples of the same sex while 131,729 were married couples of similar sex. In another survey carried out in the U.S. In 2000, it was established that almost 163,879 households had children although they were headed by similar sex couples. With about 33% of households belonging to similar sex females, it was found out that bisexual or Lesbians had higher chances of being parents as compared to Bisexual or gays who accounted for just 22% although these male couples had at least a child below the age of 18 under their care (Gates, 2011). However, as pointed out by a social study conducted in 2008, there are 49% of bisexual women or lesbians parented children as opposed to 19% of bisexual men or gays (Massey et al., 2013).

Due to increased incidences of same-sex parenting, and as the number of similar sex couples also grew, there has been a gradual acceptance of this phenomenon. With general attitudes and degrees of tolerance remaining relatively stable from 2007-2011, there has also been a lessening of acts of condemnation of this strange spectacle from 50% to 35% (Pew Research Center, 2011).

One notable factor is that the prevalence of either negative or positive attitude still shows a strong partisan inclination with 28% of Democrats expressing distaste for this practice while 53% of Republicans maintains similar sex parenting was an abomination to society. And to make matters worse, Gates (2011) discovered that in the conservative parts of the country, the number of similar sex couples who parented was slightly on the higher side. These complexities post by divergent attitudes towards similar sex parenting has led to a perplexing panorama of prohibitions and limitations, not to mention anti-discrimination and protection laws associated with similar sex parenting (Massey et al., 2013).

Reviews

One interesting occurrence took place in Australia where a study published about similar sex parenting caused a major stir when it insinuated that the well-being of children parented by homosexuals was better if not as good as the welfare of children brought up by heterosexual guardians. If there was an indication of limitations or problems children under the guardianship of same-sex parents faced, then this was linked to the stigma attributed to same-sex parenting. The foremost researcher held firm in this dialogue that it was liberating for guardians to accept or adopt responsibilities that befitted their skills instead of clinging to stereotypes of gender in which the father was the breadwinner while the mother was the basic caregiver (Crouse, 2014)

In a non-random sample, the authors of this seemingly outrageous report put advertisements in homosexual publications and websites in order to attract participants. Those who took part participated in the survey with the foreknowledge of the fact that the ultimate goal of the study was to give homosexual parenting a veneer of respectability. The study's actual finding were therefore held in great doubt or altogether considered impossible due to these influencing factors (Crouse, 2014)

The research by Crouch known as The Australian Research of Child Health in Similar-sex Families carried out under the auspices of University of Melbourne was a sample of convenience of about 390 guardians from the South of Australia who willingly identified themselves as being attractive to people of similar sex and were rearing children between the ages of 0- to 17-year-olds. The parents indicated many dimensions relating to the health and welfare of the children and any links to assumed or suspected instances of stigma examined. Of the 315 parents who willingly identified themselves, representing 500 children, 18% of the total had male index parents while a whopping 80% had parents with female index. Again, by employing parental interviews, Couch related his research participants with those who took part in the Victorian Child Health and Wellbeing Survey or VCHWS in which 5,025 Victorian children below the age of 13 years were randomly chosen. He also used another research (the Health of Young Victorians Study) or HOYVS which was an epidemiological research of the well-being and health of 5,414 children ranging between the ages of 5-18 years (Crouse, 2014)

Crouch therefore said that children in similar couple families scored highly on percentages of how they generally behaved, in terms of family cohesion and in general health compared to the normative data of the population, furthermore, he discovered no remarkable difference for all other scale scores between the two groups.

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Linked to increased negative stigma were factors such as mental health, physical activities and family cohesion, and increased stigma was more so associated positively with incidences of emotional symptoms (Crouse, 2014)

Surprisingly, Crouch still goes ahead to somehow contradict his final analysis by summarizing that it was clear there were certain aspects at play in their sample of similar-sex couples that permitted improved results in the general health, general behavior and particularly in family cohesion. He went ahead to suggest that while there was no evidence to indicate that any parental group would particularly respond in a given way on any chosen scale, such a conclusion could not be entirely discredited. He suggested that further studies should be predicated on reports from the children themselves as well as on contextual examination of qualitative data derived from interviews with families with the objective of eliminating any biases that might arise from the parents (Crouse, 2014)

Marks (2012) critically examines the American Psychological Association's conclusions on Gay and Lesbian parenting and contends that the conclusion's assertion that there were no differences between normal family settings and children from similar sex arrangements was not wholly supported by extant studies. This researcher focuses on 7 questions outlining the standards for the study of lesbian and gay couples, and he poses that researches that do not meet these criteria cannot reach general conclusions regarded this segment of society (Osborne, 2012).

Marks (2012) points out at the work of Sarantakos as an instance of a study that is scientifically viable which contradicts the findings that showed no differences. He states that the research by Sarantakos was more rigorous as compared to other researches in this arena because it was one of the most comprehensive researches about the outcome of children which gave a comparison of such results across heterosexual cohabiting or n=58, heterosexual married or n=58 and homosexual guardians or n=58 by employing data from diverse sources, and by using techniques of standard regression to indicate the differences between groups which might be linked with child outcomes and belonging to the group such as attainment in education (Osborne, 2012).

As Mark (2012) asserts, the challenges of extant studies about similar-sex parents is its inability to take a critical look on the societal fears about issues like labor force contribution, intergenerational poverty, incarceration, collegiate education, alcohol/drug abuse, early parenthood, or suicides which are mostly the fodder of national researches on young adults, adolescents and children (page 16 in manuscript). Furthermore, the study gives scanty information regarding the long-term results of children of gay or lesbian parents. He compares this lack of detailed information with the proliferation of studies carried out about children of remarriages, cohabitation, and increasingly divorces (Osborne, 2012).

He further contends that samples from less than 393 participants have no requisite statistical authenticity to reveal the minor differences in results. His evaluation of type two mistakes begets two essential issues namely: why does society want to ascertain the variances in results between children brought up by heterosexual parents and similar-sex parents, and secondly, why could anyone possible suppose these differences are there? By considering these questions from a different perspective and asking why there is undue interest shown in children of similar-sex parents, Mark (2012) asserts that nearly all the previous studies in this field revealed no variances in results between children brought up by similar-sex parents and those raised by biological and married parents. All the same, all nearly all studies comparing children of married or biological parents to any other type of family comes up with differences which are often accounted for by selection and are moderate but the differences in averages still remains clear (Osborne, 2012).

Using eight different types of childhood families, Regnerus (2012) examines outcomes in young adults. He focuses especially on the differences linked to being brought up in a formal biological-married parenthood that is intact as opposed to being brought up by parents in a similar-sex relationship. The question that needs to be asked at this stage is to what degree the study by Regnerus meets the criterion set by Mark? One of the most rigorous and comprehensive researches that has been carried out in this field to-date is the one by Regnerus. But even so, he still cautiously….....

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