Research faults junk science used in APA’s “gay parenting is fine” claims
A review of existing studies and separate research show that “studies” used by the American Psychological Association to make sweeping claims about children raised by gay and lesbian parents are “insufficient to support a strong generalized claim either way.”
The studies on which the APA leans for its decrees turn out to lack basic research necessities such as cultural variables and heterosexual comparison groups. The gay and lesbian couples were hand picked rather than randomly selected in many of the studies. Worst of all, few of the studies looked past early childhood when it came to the impact on the kids - standard measures such as criminality, educational and income attainments and relationship durability and quality were not even explored.
A study from the University of Texas used over forty measures in the lives of 3,000 American young adults and found
“children of mothers who have had same-sex relationships were significantly different as young adults on 25 of the 40 (63%) outcome measures, compared with those who spent their entire childhood with both their married, biological parents. For example, they reported significantly lower levels of income, more receipt of public welfare, lower levels of employment, poorer mental and physical health, poorer relationship quality with current partner, and higher levels of smoking and criminality.”
I am reminded of a 1981 film from Hungary, “Mephisto.” Klaus Maria Brandauer portrays a struggling actor in 1930s Germany. Initially, he hooks up with the Socialists because he sees his art as a tool for social justice. But as the Nazis ascend to power, he’s co-opted by them. The film’s last line (it was in spoken in German with English subtitles when I saw it) was incredible,
“What do they want with me? After all, I’m only an actor.”
(the German word used was schauspieler, one of that language’s ubiquitous nouns-by-contraction. It is quite literally “show player” or maybe “play actor.”
I share this because the film was about the ways that ennobling endeavors like art are corrupted by political ideology. Likewise, the new research shows that the APA, which should be an organization dedicated to the healing enterprise, and our research universities can be reduced to schauspielers, betraying their gifts and responsibilities to get perks from power brokers.
We are all impoverished and endangered when that happens.