The findings are this, and consider the potential for sensationalism: Girls raised by lesbian mothers are more likely to be sexually adventurous in adolescence.
It’s one small part of a recent review of 20 years of research on gay parenting. The review also says that finding about adolescent girls was deliberately downplayed by researchers. So were other studies showing that kids raised by gay parents do not, after all, turn out like everyone else.
Researchers softpedaled these findings because they didn’t want their work giving ammunition to anti-gay forces, in the courts, in legislatures, or in the media. Or when, for example, gay couples want to adopt children. Now those results have been outed and social science has to begin to contend with the complicated matter of difference.
(Hosted by John Donvan)
Guests:
Dr. Judith Stacey, professor of sociology at the University of Southern California
Paula Ettelbrick, family policy director for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
and Steve Nock, demographer and sociologist at the University of Virginia.