Swept under the carpet

Australian research from the 1990s has emerged as key evidence in the debate about same-sex parenting.

The constant refrain from supporters has been that there is no difference in outcomes for children in traditional marriages or same-sex couples. In 2010 Judge Vaughn Walker struck down a voter-approved constitutional referendum in California, partly because he found no sociological evidence of a difference. He put the conventional wisdom in a nutshell:

“Children raised by gay or lesbian parents are as likely as children raised by heterosexual parents to be healthy, successful and well-adjusted. The research supporting this conclusion is accepted beyond serious debate in the field of developmental psychology.”

And a brief sponsored by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2005 asserted baldly that “none of the published research suggests conclusions different from” the “no difference” hypothesis.

This is simply not true. There was a study. It showed disadvantage. And it was ignored. Why? Perhaps because it came from Australia, far from the bright lights of San Francisco or New York.  (more...)

Swept under the carpet