The controversy concerning gay and lesbian couples' ability to marry has become more intense with President Obama's recent announcement that he supports same sex marriage.
The issue continues to divide the public with citizens both for and against gay marriage expressing strong opinions. Problems Playing Video? Report a Problem Closed Captioning. Before you submit an error, please consult our Troubleshooting Guide.
Your report has been successfully submitted. Thank you for helping us improve PBS Video. Skip to Main Content. Use System Theme. Dark Theme. Light Theme. Continue Watching. Several briefs on the other side were submitted by children of gay or lesbian parents who regret their situation and oppose same-sex marriage. In most cases, their problems stemmed from earlier heterosexual relationships gone awry. Although some outcomes for children in gay households may be worse, he says, the sexual orientation of the parents isn't the root cause.
Gay or lesbian couples are twice as likely to be living in poverty. Moreover, Gates says, studies that show different outcomes for children fail to control for outside factors, such as previous divorces after failed heterosexual marriages. Prominent studies that claim children of same-sex households suffer compared with those raised by mothers and fathers have been touted by conservatives opposed to gay marriage. They have been subjected to a torrent of criticism from national organizations representing psychologists, sociologists and others.
Studies by Mark Regnerus, associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas, top that list. Twice in , he found that children who reported their mothers or fathers had a same-sex relationship fared worse than children from opposite-sex marriages, in areas ranging from education and employment to sexual promiscuity and arrest records.
His studies and others, including one this year by the Rev. Paul Sullins, an associate sociologist at Catholic University, paint a clear portrait of same-sex households with children, Regnerus wrote in a recent blog post.
A brief submitted by the American College of Pediatricians, a conservative group created after the American Academy of Pediatrics supported gay adoptions, lauds studies by Regnerus, Sullins and Douglas Allen, an economics professor at Canada's Simon Fraser University.
Those who defend studies showing no difference between the children of same-sex and opposite-sex parents say nothing could be further from the truth. It found no differences in psychological adjustment, educational outcomes, substance abuse and delinquency between the children of lesbian and heterosexual couples.
Similarly, the American Sociological Association's brief says decades of research confirm that a sturdy childhood "is the product of stability in the relationship between the two parents, stability in the relationship between the parents and the child, and sufficient parental socioeconomic resources. Allowing gay couples to adopt children was once controversial. So was equalising the age of consent at So was reducing the age of consent for same sex partners from 21, which happened as rececently as These measures always attract opposition, often from the churches.
But the opposition to same sex marriage has been of a different order. Some of it has been quite bizarre. Senior Tory figures have warned of mass defections of party members.
Religious leaders have spoken in apocalyptic terms of what will befall society should the proposed change go ahead. Around 50 MPs voted against civil partnerships in We shall see. But at a time when poverty is rising, the economy — to put it politely — becalmed and the NHS, the education system and the police in organisational chaos, you have to wonder precisely why for so many people same sex marriage has become such a big deal.
Civil partnership already gives a couple all the legal rights of marriage, as opponents of the Same Sex Couples Bill never tire of pointing out.
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