Emily Turner
April 4, 2012
Allison Fernley
Final Annotated Bibliography
Are Children With Homosexual Parents Victims or Victorious?
In many religious beliefs it clarifies that there should be both a mother and a
father raising and rearing a family together. Parents play the biggest role in a child’s
life, raising them from infancy and guiding them in the right direction to finally
releasing them into adulthood. There is an indefinite consequence that
accompanies gay and lesbian parenting. Are children, with gay or lesbian parents,
more likely to be victims or victorious? Some say ‘now-a-days’ it is debatable how
stable these relationships are compared to that of heterosexual relationships. In our
history, children have always had very constant parenting roles, those entailing the
mother and father roles. These roles are drastically differentiating and play a large
part in the changing of our current society: our children’s society.
Chrisler, Jennifer. “Two Mommies Or Daddies Will Do Fine, Thanks.” Time U.S. 14
December 2006.
This article points out that political extremists, such as James Dobson, are
concerned for the well being of children under the influence of gay and lesbian
parents. He argues there is more quality in raising children in traditional
heterosexual relationships in relation to gay or lesbian relationships. Jennifer
Chrisler strongly disagrees in her article as she refers back to a 2000 census that
claims more than seventy five percent of American households differ in structure
than married, heterosexual parents. There is over thirty years of data on gay and
lesbian parenting that proves that they are just as nurturing and healthy for a child.
Parents are inner linked and have one goal in mind: to keep their children safe,
healthy and happy. She concludes with an invite to Dobson, suggesting that he stop
attacking these poor children’s welfare and instead fight the cause of keeping all
loving families protected, recognized, and celebrated.
This article is based on the view of the executive leader of the largest advocacy
group for LGBT (lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender) families. She also adds that
she is currently raising twins with her wife, Cheryl. This gives her credibility as she
is directly involved with this growing worry for individuals outside the realm of
LGBT families. She is empathetic to these individuals and shares the value of a
loving family, one value we should all have. She disputes Dobson’s argument and
proves his research as false. She proves that it is falsifiable through an article he
wrote using Dr. Carol Gilligan’s psychological and social research. Gilligan also
points out enthusiastically that he distorted her work and quotes that she had
absolutely no support in his conclusions. She ultimately wants the people who are
swift in judgment of this lifestyle to be considerate of the love these families provide
for their children instead of jumping on the band-wagon of those who greatly
disapprove them.
The article provides evidence that sexual orientation and nurturing children are
completely different issues that I will use to support my thesis. It also aided me in
my search of finding other organizations such as the American Psychological
Association and the Academy of Pediatrics that I can further research for support in
my writing. I can apply her opinion in choosing my stand on this matter as well. It
was helpful for me to gain an insight on her own family and read her claim that
these units are as much a family as anybody else’s. She effectively used pathos as
she made a point in saying that children deserve tremendous love and that should
be our biggest goal as parents.
Hulbert, Ann. “The Gay Science.” Slate. 12 March 2004.
After the first three “R’s” in dealing with the hot issue of gay marriage “rights,
romance and religion,” Ann Hulbert claims that the fourth “R,” also known as raising
children, is somewhat avoided in many noble capacities. She refers to the American
Academy of Pediatrics’ statement that children are able to grow just as well with
homosexual in comparison to heterosexual parents. She addresses the problems
that researchers such as Judith Stacey are trying to solve. It is increasingly harder to
study these diverse families because there is no ‘all-knowing’ number to work with.
Since the 1970’s, no one can consider specific numbers since the homosexual
population has been vastly unknown. We are incapable of attaining long term
results and trends due to the shortage of people coming ‘out of the closet’ in the last
forty years until a much later time. Also, most research found comes from more
lesbian couples than gay, altering each study by a mile. Though the searchable
couples with children seem few and far between, sixty four percent of children with
homosexual parents remarked considering same-sex relationships.
In this article, the author focused her attention on how studies for this topic are
relatively outdated or too small a population to gain real results. She points out that
it is extremely hard to develop a control group in relation to these studies. It is rare
for research to be consistent because of the parents and children continually
changing. Children are unusually open-minded and are growing up in a different
lifestyle than many of last generations children. She was strong in representing the
work of Judith Stacey and her endeavor to research this pressing subject. She has
mass amounts of resources leading me to believe that she is legitimate. In referring
to Stacey’s work she proved very credible.
This piece will be extremely useful in supporting my thesis because of the lack of
consistency in studies and results. The article also made me aware of an
organization called “COLAGE,” or “Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere.”
Researching more on this group can help me gain more views from the children
with their ideas and psychological backgrounds.
Grindley, Lucas. “Santorum Says Gay Parents Worse Than Convicts.” Advocate.com 7
January 2012. Web
A candidate for president, Rick Santorum, gave this famous quote, “a man in jail
would be a better parent than a same-sex couple.” Author, Lucas Grindley,
summarizes this story in his article. While Santorum blazed the trail in New
Hampshire he had also claimed to his audience that fathers in jail are still better
parents than having no father at all. Being raised by both a mother and father, he
firmly believes that the father’s influence in a child’s life is far more crucial than two
nurturing mothers. Out of all four candidates for republican president, he has put
his gay and lesbian opinions strongly on display based from his Christian faith.
Grindley concludes in saying he has found at least one person disagreeing with
Santorum. He then links to a three-minute video clip of Zach Wahls, son of two
mothers, expressing and fighting for the right for his mothers to be married.
The author seemed to disregard his view in attempting to summarize the events and
views of Santorum. He dutifully pointed out Santorum’s bias comes from his strong
religious background. He also displayed the view of a young man and his plea for
lesbian and gay marriage. This situation was exactly what Santorum had tried to
protect children against and it made the article that much more interesting and twosided. He quoted Santorum fairly and made no attempt to belittle any opposing
side.
This article will be useful to my thesis because it clearly showed the viewpoint of a
current presidential candidate. Although he is not the leader of the republican
candidates with highest number of votes, his opinion of gay and lesbian families has
proved the amount of people that agree with him. I plan on using this information to
further gain insight about the current population and their views of Santorum’s
message. I agree with Santorum that we should not deprive children of a male and
female influence, but I disagree that a child would be better off with a parent in
prison.
Park, Alice. “Study: Children Of Lesbians May Do Better Than Their Peers.” Time
Magazine. 7 June 2010.
Author, Alice Park, introduces her subject clarifying that rearing your children in the
right direction in their teen years is quite an overwhelming task. She then raises the
question how that task plays out with same-sex parents, specifically lesbian
partners. She notes that the original studies were with children whose parents
married heterosexually, divorced and came out as gay or lesbian. The researchers,
Nanette Gartrell and Henry Bos, instead are studying lesbians who were planning to
be parents at the time of artificial insemination. Surprising to their research, they
found these children with lesbian parents, partnered or separated, had more selfesteem and were less likely to lash out or be aggressive. The data they researched
came from U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS). The lesbian
parents involved also agreed to bring their children in five times a year for
seventeen years. This data showed that forty one percent of children were picked
on and bullied in school. She concludes her piece with the statement that children in
these types of homes receive more involvement from their mothers. These mothers
have the knowledge that their children will be discriminated against and strive to
provide a safe haven at home. Also, they normally choose to be active in their
schools and have strong communication with their children.
The author is strong and convincing in her argument of lesbian mothers being wellrounded parents for children. She presented work from highly recommended
researchers and their data also stating a reliable source called the NLLFS. She
appeals to the reader by sharing values of parenting and the widespread goal to love
and support a family.
The information she gives in her article offers knowledge of the loving homes that
lesbian unions provide for their children. I agree that the goal for parents is to guide
children in the best possible direction and give them love and support in every
aspect of their lives. She states children are bullied in school for this reason, but the
strong committed family they have at home offers a sanctuary from the bad
situations they are put in. I am of two minds in regards to this statement because I
feel that they are talking about only a few of successful children. I don’t feel that any
child turns out perfect or normal, but bullying, especially in today’s society, is
extremely harsh and hurtful. I feel that these children at such a young age will be
altered psychologically.
Fitzgibbons, Rick. “Same Sex Adoption Is Not A Game.”
18 November 2011.
This article describes the issue of same-sex parenting is taking away a child’s
right to both a father and a mother. He states, “Their intentions may be good, but
they are ignoring the rights of children and important social and psychological
research into the homosexual lifestyle” (Fitzgibbons). He asserts that through the
battle of having a child, most couples that undergo artificial insemination break up,
which is in fact more prominent in lesbian couples. Children in these physically and
emotional draining homes are put at risk. He expresses that only having male or
female parents restricts the child from experiencing essential gifts offered from a
pair of heterosexual parents. Mothers offer nurturing, understanding and comfort
and fathers giving protection from fear as well as being a role model to their young
boys. These distinctive roles need to be preserved by the state, he exclaims. He
focuses his research on adopted children and he gives insight that that child is
already feeling lost without a biological linkage to one of their parents. To
additionally put them into a home with same gender parents indubitably harms
them.
He gives statistics and rates of these relationships working and lasting for
only short amounts of times. He cares for these children and proves that it is
important for children to receive their rights to heterosexual parents. Instead of
remaining neutral, he forcefully verbalized every concern he felt were special to any
reader.
I enjoyed his article and opinion because it is very much like my own.
Children need both a father and mother and the many gifts they offer. It’s a necessity
for children to have these specific gender role models because it helps them with
male and female encounters in their lives.
Conger, Cristen. “Does A Parent’s Gender Impact A Child’s Success?” 28 January
2010.
In this controversial article she presents her argument that children care
more about having two parents than their genders. She points out that there is not a
perfect relationship or better household than another, instead there are perfect
structures. In her research, she states that lesbian and gay co-parents are just as
capable of raising children effectively. After debating if men are actually important
in parenting, she concludes that fatherhood is just as important to a child’s mental
health and they are indeed capable of raising children. She satisfies her point in
explaining that gay men may become better co-parents because of their deep
commitment and desire to simply adopt a child in the first place.
She refers back to research done by Judith Stacey and summarizes her final
points alongside Stacey’s that parental investment is much more important in a
child’s life than their gender or sexual orientation. She effectively pointed her
article in a simple but sturdy direction with her claim of structure being more
important than the parents’ sexual orientation.
I agree with Conger that children need the basic parenting figures, role
models and people who love and cherish them. I will use her argument in
supporting my thesis and displaying the basic roles that parents offer children. I still
continue my belief that children need both gender role models in their daily lives to
help them succeed and gain a full potential. However, she successfully mentioned
an intriguing point in family structures that I will use to support my final writing.
Carpenter, Mackenzie. “What Happens To Kids Raised By Gay Parents?” 10 June
2007.
This article provides insight from two young adults raised by homosexual
parents. One of which, Terrance McGeorge, became gay in his teenage years and the
other, Rebecca Meiskin, going on a trip to visit her boyfriend that upcoming June.
She questions the effects on children having gay parents and becoming gay
themselves. Was there pressure or expectation from their parents? She notes that it
is hard to examine or research this question due to the lack of resources. This issue
has recently expanded on the political radar in the last decade, leaving searchable
resources slim. However it is estimated that one to nine million children are
recorded having at least one gay or lesbian parent. Many of these children with gay
or lesbian parents came from an earlier heterosexual marriage. Both Terrance and
Rebecca claim that they lived a comfortable childhood although they clearly
remember being called names and bullied in school.
The author gains credibility by interviewing the adults and their experiences
as children with homosexual parents. Instead of statistics and numbers she
provided me with real people with experience. Their childhood histories provided
an insight to what it was like for them as well as how completely different they have
become. She also clarified that there was not enough research after finding that
there was a mere sixty-seven studies all together.
I like the author’s use of real children because it really added emphasis to her
article. I am against gay parenting in strict regards to depriving a child of either a
mother or father. This article altered this initial thought process with true stories
and quotes from these adults with homosexual parents. They helped me understand
from a personal view and I was impressed to hear the things they said about how
much they love and adore their parents.
Conclusion
Homosexual parenting is becoming more normal in our society today.
Through all of this research I have decided that children deserve the right to loving
homes with strong role models. However, the right to a male and female influence
still stands. A child raised by gay or lesbian parents can only be biologically linked to
one parent and deals with the lack of the needed influence of a male and female
partnership. These children deal with both adoption and homosexual parents,
making growing up more difficult without a normal mother and father partnership.
A big percentage of us have not experienced this personally, but I continue to fear
for these children’s well being in social situations. I anticipate that there will be
children who successfully grow up in these social settings, but continue to wonder
about the others.