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Gay Parenting
Gay parents often face very specific and very strong opposition. Stereotypes abound about the end result of gay parenting, stereotypes including an assertion that gay parents will automatically raise a gay child, or that, without both a father and a mother, a child raised by a gay couple will not be fully developed and capable of dealing with the world.
Dr. Osman in My stepfather is a she chronicles therapy sessions initiated to deal with the acting out of a 15-year-old child. The child attempted to blame his acting out on his realization that his mother was a lesbian and that a lesbian couple was raising him.
As a paradigmatic case study, the acting out of the subject could be used to extrapolate that children of gay or lesbian couples have greater difficulty with developmental issues such as gender role identity. The resulting stress can lead to improper behavior, with all the sanctions associated with that.
The result of Osman's study, however, was that the acting out was not as a result of any difficulty associated with being raised by a lesbian couple. Rather, the idea was raised by a savvy child simply looking to avoid punishment.
Other studies have accepted that any sexual conflict between homosexual parents expressed through certain attitudes or behavior towards a child is no different than the behaviors and attitudes directed towards a child due to sexual conflicts of heterosexual parents.
Conclusion: Many comprehensive studies have been conducted to study the overall effects of parenting by a gay couple for a child. Most of the studies agree that common stereotypes about children of gay parents are not supported by the data.
Bibliography
Osman, S. (1972). My stepfather is a she. Family Process, 11, 209-218.
Bailey, J.M., Bobrow, D.,Wolfe, M., & Mikach, S. (1995). Sexual orientation of adult sons of gay fathers. Developmental Psychology, 31, 124-129.
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