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Canadian Government Studies Gay Parenting

The following is an article about a report compiled by the Canadian Justice Department on gay parenting and the impact of growing up in a gay household. Read the original at canada.com.

Gays May Make Better Parents


Far from having inferior upbringings, the children of gay and lesbian parents may have an advantage over other kids, the Justice Department says in an impact assessment of its proposal to legalize same-sex marriage.

There are suggestions the offspring of gay couples have extra positive role models because their parents tend to have more "supportive and egalitarian" relationships, with more equal division of labour, the assessment says. "These strengths could contribute to parents' relationship quality and have a positive
impact on children."

The three-page impact summary of gay marriage on children was compiled from dozens of international studies on the issue.

Ottawa compiled the information last year, when the Liberal government announced it would become the third country in the world to legalize gay marriage, following several court rulings that the federal ban is unconstitutional.

The summary is labelled "Protected: for internal use only" and was released to CanWest News Service through an access-to-information request.

The summary also notes gay fathers may have better parenting skills than heterosexual fathers.

"There is also some initial evidence to suggest that gay fathers may be more likely than heterosexual fathers to exhibit authoritative parenting practices," the assessment says. "In North America an
authoritative parenting style that provides children with clear limitations in addition to warmth, affection and support has been found to be associated with positive child adjustment."

A Canadian government delegation used the impact assessment to support Canada's legislative plans when appearing last September at the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child.

The assessment concludes the majority of research indicates there is no difference between children of heterosexual and homosexual parents as long as they are raised in loving and supportive homes.

"Family form alone does not appear to be a risk factor, unless combined with other risk factors, such as low income, lack of support, high conflict, low education and others," says the summary. "By the same measure, poor parenting has a negative effect on children, regardless of family form."

The government concedes, however, research on gay marriage and children is controversial because of concerns about small, unrepresentative samples of predominantly well-educated, middle-class American families.

Some research also shows almost half of the kids of gay parents report being bullied or teased or say they experienced some form of discrimination by age eight.

Other studies raise concerns about the potential negative effects of being raised by gay parents, including gender identity confusion, problems with social and emotional adjustment and "the fear that children will be sexually molested by their gay or lesbian parents."

The Justice Department's advice to the members of the UN delegation is they should accentuate the positive in addressing the effect of gay marriage on children.

The message should be "allowing same-sex couples to marry will directly improve the legal situation of children being raised by those couples, including clearer access to child support obligations and division of family property on breakdown of the relationship," say briefing notes prepared for the meeting.