Scholarly “consensus” isn’t always valid

If you read the journals, you would be sure that there is a scholarly consensus on same-sex parenting. Many papers have been published which claim that there is no difference in parenting ability between sexual minority parents and heterosexual parents.

However, the facts on the ground are often different from scholarly consensus, most notably perhaps for the intergenerational transfer of sexual orientation but also for other areas. While some of the disparities observed may legitimately be attributed in part to discrimination against sexual minorities, others may be related to differences in over-benefited status, personal conduct, gender nonconformity, or impulsivity (delayed gratification/time preference/delay discounting) -- rather than to sexual minority status per se.

We should beware of drawing conclusions prematurely from an underdeveloped research literature, regardless of the political pressures on scholars to bring closure to complex, controversial questions that may have serious political or policy implications.  (more...)

Scholarly “consensus” isn’t always valid