Instead of my usual podcasts, this week I’ve been listening to Supreme Court oral arguments while commuting to and fro. While doing so, I’ve been bemused and amused by how consistently the advocates for both California’s Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act have been carefully treading around and pretty much avoiding the question of whether there are any measurable social harms which would be wrought by allowing same-sex couples to legally marry. This is especially striking, since the opponents of these laws have been pounding away at the question of whether there is any rational basis (the lowest level of judicial scrutiny in American constitutional jurisprudence) for such laws as these.
Just like the professional advocates for sexual discrimination, my conservative friends and relatives often seem to forget that this is an empirical question for the social sciences, one that can be answered if we take the trouble to measure enough measurable outcomes. Take, for example, this publicly available meta-analysis of developmental outcomes for children. The authors found “no statistically significant difference for gender identity between children raised by heterosexual parents and those raised by same-sex parents,” along with “no statistically significant difference for cognitive development between children raised by heterosexual parents and those raised by same-sex parents,” and “no significant difference of children’s psychological adjustment according to parents’ sexual orientation,” and finally, “no significant difference of children’s sexual preferences between children raised by same-sex and heterosexual parents.”
After combing through every aspect of a fairly rigorous ANOVA-Like Fixed-Effect Model, the author conclude in plain English:
In sum, children raised by same-sex and heterosexual parents were found to not differ significantly in terms of their cognitive development, gender
role behavior, gender identity, psychological adjustment, or sexual preferences. For the outcome that was significantly different between children of
same-sex and heterosexual parents, the finding was in favor of same-sex parents. For the outcome of parent–child relationship, same-sex parents
reported having significantly better relationships with their children than did heterosexual parents. Similar findings have been documented in previous studies with children of lesbian parents expressing more positive relationships with their mothers’ new partner than children of heterosexual mother families (Tasker & Golombok, 1995). There are several hypotheses that could explain this finding, some of which stem from the limitations inherent in the studies used for the analysis.
This is sort of an amazing finding, really. Despite all the faith-based hate, despite the bile spewing from preachers who dutifully intone the wrathful rhetoric of Romans 1, despite all the ordinary Americans who continue to echo the homophobia of long-dead priests and pharisees, these kids are alright. It’s almost enough to give me hope.
