Meet the Parents: Research on Same-Sex Parenting

gayfamily_small.gifIn 2002, the Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby released a groundbreaking report into gay and lesbian parenting. Summarising all the available research evidence over 25 years, Meet the Parents demonstrated that the sexuality of a child’s parents did not detriment their welfare and development.

The Meet the Parents report

Lesbians and gay men have always had children. Many lesbians and gay men are having children through formal and informal arrangements such as fertility clinics and donor insemination. Lesbians and gay men also have children in their care from previous heterosexual relationships. Recent surveys show that 20% of lesbians and up to 10% of gay men are already parents and that many more want to have children in the future.

A considerable amount of sociological and psychological research has been conducted over the past 25 years to examine the effect a parent’s sexual orientation has on the welfare and development of their children. The findings comparing lesbian and gay parents to heterosexual parents refute common stereotypes and concerns about lesbian and gay parenting.

It has been clearly demonstrated that the sexuality of a child’s parents has no connection to the child’s moral and cognitive development, wellbeing or happiness. When comparing children of heterosexual parents to children of lesbians and gay men no significant differences have been found in the social adjustment, social acceptance, or sociability of the children.

Nor has any difference in the children’s peer relations such as quality of friendships or popularity been illustrated. In addition, no discernible differences have been found in the children of heterosexual or homosexual parents regarding a child’s gender role identification or sexual orientation.

The most important factor in a child’s upbringing has been identified as the care and love put into a child’s life. Lesbians and gay men display matched capability at loving and caring for their children as their heterosexual counterparts.

Research has shown that family processes, not family structures, are determinative of children’s well being. That is, the happiness of the relationship between the adults in the home, and the degree of openness, warmth and communication within the family, not the gender or sexuality of the adults, has the most significant impact on the child.

It is not having a gay and lesbian parent that disadvantages a child; it is the government’s discriminatory laws.

Since Meet the Parents...

Since the launch of Meet the Parents, a range of research reviews and summaries have confirmed and developed the conclusions reached in our report.

Some of the most important papers and reports include: