Are Children Raised by Lesbian Couples "Normal?"
"Children reared by lesbian couples are just as well-adjusted as kids of heterosexual couples."
That was the lead line in a story posted by the Associated Press on April 3, 1997. My question upon reading this headline is, why is this news? Why is it so hard for people to believe that lesbian couples can raise happy, healthy kids? Not one study, but three, were done to prove this rather obvious finding. Not only did the lesbians in these studies raise normal kids, a researcher at the University of Virginia says you can't tell them apart using standard psychological tests. Normal kids, raised in lesbian homes, wow.
To the researchers I say, thanks for proving the painfully obvious. Those who think children will turn out sick and twisted living in lesbian homes need to visit a few. I can understand the stereotype. Maybe they think we'll constantly be having sex in front of the kid, or telling them how evil men are. Well, anyone who has been married awhile knows sex is the first thing to go, and as for the evil factor of men (or people in general) that's something children tend to pick up on their own without help from parents.
Case in point: I told my oldest sister that my partner and I were planning on having a child soon. She said, "I wouldn't raise a child in that environment." Well, what environment is that? One where the child is carefully planned for, wanted, loved and provided for by two committed and caring adults? She's right!! How stupid could we have been. When there are so many children out there living with single parents, or in some socially-acceptable heterosexual households that are filled with psychological and physical abuse, how could we have been so selfish as to think we could raise a child better than (or at least as well as) heterosexuals? "You know what I mean," she snapped. No, I honestly don't know what she means.
People often believe being raised in a home full of gay people will make you turn gay. Well, I for one, was raised in a home full of heterosexuals and somehow it didn't rub off on me. Lord knows they tried to make me straight, but you can't mess with what God gave you. If a lesbian's child is heterosexual, nothing the lesbian mother does will make them gay.
Another...