There has been a lot of controversy over gay marriage and gay child rearing, but a newly released study that has tracked the first generation of planned lesbian families has found that children of gay parents are just as likely to be well adjusted and normal as their peers with heterosexual parents.
The U.S.A. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS) is the longest study of it’s kind. It has followed children of lesbian families who received donor sperm for 24 years. The international team was led by Nanette Gartrell, M.D., Distinguished Scholar, Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law and Associate Clinical Professor, Psychiatrist and Center of Excellence in Women’s Health. Gartrell says she decided to launch the study because it was a unique opportunity to examine the first generation of it’s kind – “(I had) the desire to document the first generation of planned Lesbian families and follow the children from conception to adulthood.”
Now that documentation has provided hard data to back up those that argue that families with gay parents are just as normal as any other. In fact, Gatrell’s study confirms what others have pointed out recently – that children of lesbian parents may have an advantage. They tend to be more nurturing, less aggressive and more open to diversity.
Their only real disadvantage is discrimination. With homophobia still alive and well in America, it can be a challenge for these households to protect children from the those who would judge their families for being different. That’s a challenge that it’s up to all of us to fix.
