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from Social Issues
Pediatrics Group Endorses Homosexual Adoption
...But New Policy Places Children at Risk
by A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D.
Vice President,
The National Assn. Of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH)
 On February 3rd, The American Academy of
Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement
endorsing adoption by same-sex couples, saying
they can provide the same emotionally healthy
family life as heterosexual parents. The academy
is urging its 55,000 members to take an active
role in supporting laws that allow gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender individuals to adopt the
children of the individuals with whom they
cohabit.
But this new policy is based on politics, not
science. Sadly, although AAP policy carries
significant weight in our nation's courts, it is
not in the best interests of children, whose
interests the AAP claims to represent.
Studies demonstrate that there is, in fact, a
difference between non-heterosexual and
heterosexual parenting. Children raised by
non-heterosexual parents are placed at risk. They
are more apt to experience gender and sexual
confusion; they are more apt to become
promiscuous; they are at greater risk of losing a
parent to AIDS, substance abuse or suicide. They
suffer more depression and other emotional
difficulties. They are also more likely to engage
in same-sex behavior.
Furthermore, non-heterosexual couples are less
stable than heterosexual couples in their
relationships and they are more likely to
separate. Research reveals that promiscuity is
virtually the norm among male non-heterosexuals.
Violence is substantially higher in
non-heterosexual relationships. The list of risk
factors continues.
Nature created male and female to be complementary
to each other in myriad ways that enhance not
only the couple's relationship, but the healthy
and stable development of the children they
produce. It is well known that fatherlessness is
responsible for many of the ills of children in
our society. There are few bodies of research
where the evidence is so clear: children need both
a mother and a father. Homes with a married mother
and father are, all things considered, far better
for raising emotionally stable children.
Perhaps the time has come for rational, reasonable
people to insist that organizations like the
American Academy of Pediatrics either base their
policies on science, or else label themselves as
political organizations and relinquish their
tax-exempt statuses.
And maybe it's also time that federal, state and
local governments discontinue reliance on
professional organizations like the American
Academy of Pediatrics when they need accurate,
dispassionate, scientific information.
It's also time that the American people insist on
truth, not politics, from all of our professional
organizations.
Updated: 8 February 2008
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