Children Growing up with Same-Sex Parents
Research from Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston in 2005 suggested that children growing up in same-sex parental households do not necessarily have differences in self-esteem, gender identity, or emotional problems from children growing up in heterosexual parent homes.
Between1 million and 6 million children in the U.S. are being reared by committed lesbian or gay couples. Children being raised by same-sex parents were either born to a heterosexual couple, adopted, or conceived through artificial insemination.
All the studies demonstrate that children of same-sex parents do as well as children whose parents are heterosexual in every way.
Another study in the US found of 37 children from 27 divorced lesbian mothers and a similar number of children of heterosexual mothers found no differences in behavior, adjustment, gender identity, and peer relationships could be found.
Children seem to adjust better when there is a more equal division of labor in the home and the parental relationship with the children had a higher rating, she says.
A study by Perrin showed that children whose parents are lesbian have no more problems than the rest of the children and actually may be more tolerant of differences. There was suggestive evidence that there were more stresses due to the gender of same-sex parents, but the children also reported greater well-being, more nurturing, and a greater tolerance for differences.
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