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Gay Parenting
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Gay Parenting The conception that lesbians and gay men may be parents is frequently perceived in today’s society as impossible or immoral. Gay men and lesbians are often viewed as excluded from having children because sexual reproduction is related to men and women only. My approach to this uniquely controversial topic of gay parenting will be that of attempting to analyze the Pro side first. Gays and lesbians are human too and who is to say that they don’t deserve equal rights in society. Society has to realize that the modern family has developed into many different forms in recent years in that the "nuclear family" is not necessarily the most common form anymore. Then I will attempt to analyze the Con side that expresses the fact that two people of the same sex should not be raising and rearing children together. Many believe that if the couple is unable to produce children together, then they shouldn’t be raising them as parents. Children need a balance in their lives and different sexed parents can provide that balance efficiently. Each parent (mom or dad) socializes the child differently and the child needs to be introduced to both worlds. I will then proceed to critique both sides on strengths and weaknesses, based on facts, studies, and my own opinion, and then draw some of my own conclusions on this controversial topic of Gay Parenting. Pro Position There is no valid reason for refusing to call lesbian and gay headed household families. They fall under every conceivable criterion for identifying families and the concept of a Family. "They are groups of co resident kin providing jointly through income-pooling for each others need of food and shelter. They socialize children, engage in emotional and physical support, and make up part of a larger kin network". (O’ Brien and Weir, 128). There are also many homophobic (the irrational fear or hatred of homosexuality or gay people, Biery 88) individuals in today’s society who are the main cause of negative stereotypes against lesbians and gay parents. These negative stereotypes all prove to be untrue and irrational, revealing that gay and lesbian parents could be equally as fit to straight parents. The accusation that majority of gay men are child molesters has been rejected in that the overwhelming majority of child sexual abusers are a heterosexual men, who abuse both boys and girls. The fear that children of lesbian and gay parents will become lesbian or gay is irrational in that studies show that the sexual orientation of the parents has no effect whatsoever on sexual orientation of youths. The concern that the children of gay and lesbian headed families will not develop so called appropriate gender identity or gender behavior has been introduced. This was proved incorrect in that when comparing children of gay parents to children of straight parents, there was no significant difference in these two areas. The last stereotype involving the fear that emotional damage will affect the child due to coping with the issue of having lesbian or gay parents. Once again this was proved to be false and the general psychological well being of children in gay and lesbian households matches that of children of heterosexual parent households.
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