Sexual orientation on raising a child
The world today is full of diversities. There are various kinds of families raising children in their own unique way. Examples of the types of families we have include: divorced couples, single parents, foster parents, heterosexual parents, and homosexual parents in the gay community. In the past few decades, gay people have championed for their right of existence in the community. Their desire to have children became controversial, but still gay parenting emerged and was fully accepted. Many countries have legalized gay marriages and detailed their rights to be parents and coexist. Today, homosexual couples have children and are raising them in their own way. Thanks to the sperm donors and surrogate mothers(Shaffer & Kipp, 2010). However, the right to have and raise children has spurred debates about the effect of such couples on the growth and development of their children. Concerns on child’s emotional and mental health, school performance and social competence dominated the debates. Other people have claimed that gay parents are not able to provide children with sufficient parental guide, something done easily by heterosexual parents(Drexler & Gross, 2005). Even though opponents of gay parenting air their arguments against parenting, many sociologists, gay parents, scientists, and children raised by gay parents give patterns and proof showing that gay parenting is just fine if not better that heterosexual parenting. This paper seeks to assess whether or not sexual orientation have an effect on raising a child.
According to research concerning children’s outcomes from same sex parents, there is no significant difference in their growth and development. For example, a study by the American Psychological Association (APA) showed that not even one study has shown that children from gay parents are disadvantaged in any regard compared to children from heterosexual parents in 2005(Drexler & Gross, 2005). This inference has been used as precedence and cited in a number of judicial proceedings on such marriages. For example, the constitutional amendment of California defining marriage states that this conclusion is, beyond serious debate, accepted in the discipline of developmental psychology. However, as the legal status and social visibility of homosexual parenting increases, major concerns about the effect of sexual orientation on raising a child have been voiced(Baumle, Compton & Poston, 2009).
Some studies show that children of homosexual parents experiences a lot of difficulties with their sexual identity compared to their counterparts from heterosexual parents. It is believed from these studies that children raised by homosexual parents have disturbances in gender role behavior and gender identity(Brooks, & Church, 2008). Apart from sexual identity of children from homosexual parents, other concerns are based on the personal development of the children. Some researchers strive to prove that children raised by homosexual parents are more vulnerable to emotional and mental breakdown(Shaffer & Kipp, 2010). They also believe that such children are likely to show many difficulties in adjustment and problems with their behavior, or face the risk of becoming psychological unhealthy compared to their counterparts from heterosexual parents. Children raised by homosexual parents are also purported to experience a lot of difficulties with their social relationships. Observers have voiced their concerns that children raised by homosexual parents are stigmatized, victimized, and teased by their peers. In addition, observers assert that such children are more likely to be abused sexually by their parents or even their parent’s friends and acquaintances(Drexler & Gross, 2005).
In spite of the above voiced concerns, researches from social sciences have failed in their attempts to confirm the fears of adverse effect of sexual orientation on raising a child (Brooks, & Church, 2008). Research from social sciences show that sexual identities (such as gender role behavior, gender identity, and sexual orientation), develop in a similar way among all children regardless of whether they are raised by homosexual parents or heterosexual parents. Other studies on concepts of personal development aspects (such as self-concept, personality, and conduct), just like research on sexual identities, reveal insignificant differences between children raised by homosexual parents and those raised by heterosexual parents(Baumle, Compton & Poston, 2009). However, the availability of this kind of data explaining these parenting concerns is very limited and cannot be easily accessed by homosexual parents and their children. Evidence also indicates that children raised by homosexual parents have just as normal social relationships with their peers and adults as their counterparts rose by heterosexual parents. The emerging viewpoint from both sexual identity research and personal development studies is among the general engagements in the social life of homosexual parents, their friends, family, and peers(Pressley & McCormick, 2006). On sexual abuse concerns, there is no particular scientific support on the issue about fears of children raised by homosexual parents being abused sexually by other people, or isolated in one sex community (gay or lesbian), or ostracized by their peers. Generally, results from research evidently show that adjustment, development, and social well-being of children raised by homosexual parents do not differ markedly from their counterparts raised by heterosexual parents. To this end, we can confidently infer that sexual orientation has no effect on raising a child(Shaffer & Kipp, 2010).
In conclusion, children raised by homosexual parents do not exhibit any form of negative effect on their growth and development concerning their sexual identity, personal development, or social relationships. Some studies have claimed that raising a child, especially a boy without a man in the family is psychologically detrimental and harmful to the child (Baumle, Compton & Poston, 2009). A father figure is seen as a necessity for emotional and mental health of a child. However, other studies indicate a contradicting result that fathers are not the single masculine role models. This is because homosexual families do not exist in a vacuum. There are other masculine figures around them such as brothers, friends, uncles, and teachers who can be masculine role models.Same studies have proved that child growth and development is better with mothers compared to fathers. Therefore, lack of a father is not a major concern among lesbian parents (Drexler & Gross, 2005). Others studies also cite that lesbian parents may feminize a male child, and masculine a female child. This claim is unfounded because there are many male children within heterosexual families who display feminine characters, and female children exhibiting masculine traits. Therefore, this is not a problem within lesbian families. Even though parents are major role models to their children, this does not extend to the sexual orientation of their children during their growth and development. Therefore, male children raised by lesbian parents do not have to be gay, and female children raised by lesbian parents do not have to be lesbians (Pressley & McCormick, 2006).
The same allegations have been made on the part of gay parents. Claims that gay parent may masculine their female children, and that a mother is a feminine role model for female children’s femininity is not founded on evidence. Other fears that children raised by gay fathers are likely to be gay and lesbians are not proved. This is because there are very many children raised by heterosexual parents who are gay and lesbians. They are not major concerns in homosexual families. This is because all families regardless of whether homosexual or heterosexual coexist in a neighborhood full of people. Children are likely to emulate friends, uncles, and peers (Shaffer & Kipp, 2010). Therefore, it is not obvious that children raised by homosexual parents will emulate their parents, and become what they are today. From these claims, studies, we can conclude that sexual orientation has no effect on raising a child.
References
Baumle, A. K., Compton, D. L. R., & Poston, D. L. (2009). Same-sex partners: The social
demography of sexual orientation. Albany: SUNY Press.
Brooks, C. I., & Church, M. A. (2008). How Psychology Applies to Everyday Life. Santa
Barbara: ABC-CLIO.
Drexler, P., & Gross, L. (2005). Raising boys without men. Emmaus, Pa: Rodale.
Pressley, M., & McCormick, C. (2006). Child and adolescent development for educators. New
York: Guilford Press.
Shaffer, D. R., & Kipp, K. (2010). Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence.
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
