The children of gay parents.

[drankin]

Here is an article about a study of gay parents influence on their childrens sexual orientation:

http://www.aolnews.com/science/article/study-gay-parents-more-likely-to-have-gay-kids/19668089

The knee-jerk reaction by most is that this is a study motivated by an anti-gay hatemongering bigot. But, Schumm seems to go out of his way to be objective. Why the study?

"I just want to know the truth about something," he tells AOL News. And he found it strange that parents can influence so many facets of their children's lives -- but not in any way their sexual orientation. (I don't know how to use big quotes dealy)

I haven't read the study, just the article so far.

I find it interesting how some subjects can be so taboo that even the study of it is strongly opposed.

Regardless, so what if the children of gays are more likely to be gay themselves?

 

[Evo]

I know gay men that are raising their children by themselves or with a gay partner and the children are straight. I know many straight parents whose children are gay.

I know zero gay parents that have gay kids.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I know gay men that are raising their children by themselves or with a gay partner and the children are straight. I know many straight parents whose children are gay.

I know zero gay parents that have gay kids.

Perhaps, but you can't pit anecdotes against hard data. One thing that wasn't clear to me was if all of the children considered were adopted, or if some percentage of the children were the biological children of one gay parent.

Also, is it possible that gay parents can somehow select gay children for adoption? I helped to raise my former fiance's brother for a time. By that time [he was about 16] we all knew he was gay. His mother said she knew by the time he was four.

 

[Barwick]

I know gay men that are raising their children by themselves or with a gay partner and the children are straight. I know many straight parents whose children are gay.

I know zero gay parents that have gay kids.

Congratulations. When you have a sample size of more than a dozen or so, let us know the results. 1000 is a good place to start, 10,000 is better.

I know three gay men who I consider friends, and unless you knew them well, you'd never guess they were gay. Does that mean all gay men are that way?

 

[Evo]

Congratulations. When you have a sample size of more than a dozen or so, let us know the results. 1000 is a good place to start, 10,000 is better.

I know three gay men who I consider friends, and unless you knew them well, you'd never guess they were gay. Does that mean all gay men are that way?

Do you have a point?

There wasn't an actual study done, it was a meta-analysis of ten books on the subject.

 

[Radrook]

Why subject a child to that kind of confusion?

 

[Evo]

Why subject a child to that kind of confusion?

What confusion? No more confusing than mixed race marriages, or even same minority race in an area predominatly another race. No more confusing than a single parent when the majority have two parents.

I find that people that perceive a problem is because they aren't familiar with the situation enough to understand. People fear or object to what they don't understand.

 

[dreiter]

I don't see why anyone would be surprised that gay parents are more likely to produce gay children. Angry parents are more likely to produce angry children, and quiet parents are more likely to produce quiet children, and brown-haired parents are more likely to produce brown-haired children. Why should it not work this way for sexual orientation? It seems to me that people have a genetic disposition to being this way or that (regarding any trait, not just sexual orientation), and parents have a direct impact on how that genetic disposition plays out.

 

[Evo]

I don't see why anyone would be surprised that gay parents are more likely to produce gay children. Angry parents are more likely to produce angry children, and quiet parents are more likely to produce quiet children, and brown-haired parents are more likely to produce brown-haired children. Why should it not work this way for sexual orientation? It seems to me that people have a genetic disposition to being this way or that (regarding any trait, not just sexual orientation), and parents have a direct impact on how that genetic disposition plays out.

So a boy raised by a single mother will turn out liking men? You don't learn to be gay. If you are already gay and you are raised not to be afraid to admit it, then you are more likely to admit it. But that is true regardless if the parent is gay or the parent is straight but approves of being gay.

 

[dreiter]

Well I guess I just disagree! :)

I don't believe that sexual orientation is determined entirely by genetics or entirely by culture/society/nurture. I think it is a combination of all of those things, and I think that all of our other preferences show that, so why shouldn't sexual orientation?

 

[Evo]

Well I guess I just disagree! :)

I don't believe that sexual orientation is determined entirely by genetics or entirely by culture/society/nurture. I think it is a combination of all of those things, and I think that all of our other preferences show that, so why shouldn't sexual orientation?

Just because you dable in same sex does not make you homosexual. From people I know that are homosexual, they all came from straight families, and they knew they were homosexual from a young age, even though they were raised straight.

I know some people that dabble in same sex out of curiosity, they are not homosexual.

So I guess I just disagree.