Sat 5 Jul 2014 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
An Australian study has found children of same-sex parents are happy and healthy, and in some ways faring better than others, but still face stigma. Researcher Simon Crouch from the University of Melbourne says the findings suggest kids of gay parents are doing well in terms of their overall health, and that their families are getting along. “We found that children from same-sex families scored, on average, six per cent better on two key measures, general health and family cohesion, even when controlling for a number sociodemographic factors such as parent education and household income,” he writes for The Conversation. “But on most health measures, including emotional behaviour and physical functioning, there was no difference when compared with children from the general population.” Crouch says many children did experience stigma, which was linked to lower scores on a number of scales. “Stigma can be subtle, such as letters home from school addressed to Mr and Mrs. Or it can be overt and very harmful, in the form of bullying and abuse at school. The more stigma the family experienced, the greater the impact on the social and emotional well-being of the children.” Crouch says the findings support and strengthen the existing international research undertaken with smaller sample sizes. He points out that there is growing evidence to suggest that the structure of same-sex parent families, particularly in relation to work and home duties, plays an important part in how well families get along. “Same-sex parents, for instance, are more likely to share child care and work responsibilities more equitably than heterosexual-parent families. “It is liberating for parents to take on roles that suit their skills rather than defaulting to gender stereotypes, where mum is the primary care giver and dad the primary breadwinner. Our research suggests that abandoning such gender stereotypes might be beneficial to child health.” Crouch also has a message for politicians who claim same-sex parents are not fit to raise children. “It's important that we remember that the words of politicians can have a detrimental impact on the 33,000-plus same-sex families in Australia,” he says. “But in the face of a number of such barriers, including stigma and legislated discrimination, children with same-sex parents appear to be doing well. Instead of criticising these loving family units perhaps it is time to see what we can learn from them – for the benefit of all our children.” Australian Marriage Equality national director Rodney Croome has welcomed the study saying, it “blows out of the water” the main argument against same-sex marriage – that children do best with a father and a mother. "It also adds to the case for marriage equality by showing that the problem faced by children of same-sex couples is legal and social discrimination, not the sexuality of their parents," Croome says. "In the light of this study, all those Australians who believe marriage is good for children should be advocates for allowing the children of same-sex couples the opportunity of having married parents."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 5th July 2014 - 7:52pm