Reuters analyzes one of the central claims made against same-sex marriage, whether gays can raise children:
The quality of the relationship between the child and the parents, the relationship between the parents, and the economic resources available to the family, were the top issues for healthy children,’ [Michael Lamb, head of the Social and Developmental Psychology Department at Cambridge University] said.
Kids had no trouble with their own sexual identity or other development due to growing up with same-sex parents, he argued, and the ways fathers and mothers interacted with kids was not as important as having two parents, he said.
“Children clearly benefit when they have two parents, both of them actively involved,” said Lamb. Asked if mothers and fathers interacted differently with children, he replied, “It is now quite clear that those differences in and of themselves do not significantly affect children’s adjustment,” he said.
Studies reject the conclusion that children are abused more when raised by same-sex couples.
“There is no evidence that gays or lesbians are more likely to sexually abuse children,” he said. “This is one of those fairly old canards.”
Susan Young is a teacher, author and active community member talks about her support for her openly gay son, and how laws should afford him the right to marry just as any other couple would:
We have a gay son. He has a distinct masculine identity, dark two-day unshaven scruff. He loves fast cars. He drinks Starbucks. He argues vociferously. He can act bull-headed, and bite like a scorpion. Like the rest of us, he works, plays, sleeps and eats. He calls almost daily and I end each conversation, “I love you, hon.”
He echoes, “Love you, too.”
If my son ever loves a man enough to want to be a husband, I’ll take their commitment as one more strand to strengthen the institution of marriage. How could their bond possibility destroy the one I have with his father? I don’t get that. And to answer Zac’s kindergarten question, “Can boys marry boys?”
Theodore B. Olson’s office is a testament to his iconic status in the conservative legal movement…But in a war room down the hall, where Mr. Olson is preparing for what he believes could be the most important case of his career, the binders stuffed with briefs, case law and notes offer a different take on a man many liberals love to hate. They are filled with arguments Mr. Olson hopes will lead to a Supreme Court decision with the potential to reshape the legal and social landscape along the lines of cases like Brown v. Board of Education and Roe v. Wade: the legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide.
The lawsuit comes as societal views on same-sex marriage are rapidly evolving. Six states have now authorized gay couples to marry, and the politics of the issue increasingly defy convention. President Obama, for example, has said he opposes same-sex marriage, while former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter is a lesbian, supports it.
Even so, Mr. Olson’s involvement stands out. As one of the leading Supreme Court advocates of his generation, he commands wide respect in the legal community, and his views carry considerable weight with the justices, according to Steven G. Calabresi, a law professor at Northwestern University and a leader with Mr. Olson in the Federalist Society, a hothouse for conservative legal theory.
A Federal Judge has set a date for Olson’s case to go to trial in January, leaving open the door for equal access to marriage for all Americans, regardless of sexual orientation.
