Comparing moms and dads

AP reports:

It may be a man’s world, as the saying goes, but lesbians seem to have an easier time living in it than gay men do.

High-profile lesbian athletes have come out while still playing their sports, but not a single gay male athlete in major U.S. professional sports has done the same. While television’s most prominent same-sex parents are the two fictional dads on “Modern Family,” surveys show that society is actually more comfortable with the idea of lesbians parenting children.

And then there is the ongoing debate over the Boy Scouts of America proposal to ease their ban on gay leaders and scouts.

Reaction to the proposal, which the BSA’s National Council will take up next month, has been swift, and often harsh. Yet amid the discussions, the Girl Scouts of USA reiterated their policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation, among other things. That announcement has gone largely unnoticed.

I am guessing that there is less concern about lesbian scout leaders because they do not go around penetrating girls in order to turn them into lesbians. But my interest here is with the parenting prejudices:

Still, while many see the two dads on the “Modern Family” sitcom as groundbreaking, others have a sense that the societal discomfort with gay men as parents is at the root of many of the jokes.

“A good portion of that is for comedic effect,” says Don Todd, a 32-year-old father in a two-dad family in Orange, Calif. He doesn’t think most people would think it was as funny if the characters were two moms.

Herek, the researcher at UC-Davis, has, in fact, found in surveys that heterosexuals think lesbians would be better parents than gay men.

Nancy Dreyer, a mother in a two-mom family, has noticed this in her own life.

“With gay male friends of ours who have kids, people will say, ‘My gosh, who takes care of this baby?’ — as if they’re not capable,” says Dreyer, whose 57 and lives in suburban Boston.

The assumption, she says, is that men aren’t nurturing. And if they’re too nurturing, she says, people get suspicious, noting that no one has ever questioned her and her partner about their ability to raise their son, who’s now in college.

So which is more accepted, the gay (adoptive) parents or the lesbians? This article has conflicting messages. My impression is that the lesbians are a lot less likely to face social stigma. But the gays are more accepted on TV. Is that because the gays are accepted, or because people are laughing at the gays?

I live in one of those leftoid communities where everyone bends over backwards to show tolerance for LGBTQIA folks, so I don't kmnow. I have heard, anecdotally, that those familiar with gay and lesbian parenting usually say that the gays are doing okay but the lesbians make horrible parents.

The Wikipedia article on LGBT parenting announces a "consensus":

Scientific research has been generally consistent in showing that gay and lesbian parents are as fit and capable as heterosexual parents, and their children are as psychologically healthy and well-adjusted as children reared by heterosexual parents.[3][4][5] Major associations of mental health professionals in the U.S., Canada, and Australia have not identified credible empirical research that suggests otherwise.[5][6][7][8][9]

Politifact analyzes this claim:

Assertions that it makes no difference whether children are raised by heterosexual or homosexual parents have been "shattered by the latest and best social science and research."

Politifact says that the claim is overstated, and concludes:

A prudent scholar, he said, would conclude that "the question is by no means settled, either by the literature as a whole or by the Regnerus study, the latter having far too many problems and issues to be considered ‘definitive.’"

The claim did not say that the Regnerus study is "definitive". The question of how homosexual couples acting as legal parents compare to heterosexual parents is not settled, meaning that the latest and best social science and research does not resolve the issue.

Wikipedia is biased and false to say that there is a consensus on the issue. There is not. I follow the scientific evidence, and I am happy to post it either way it goes. Those "major associations of mental health professionals" are corrupt, and refuse to recognize evidence like the Regnerus study.

One judge argued in 2010:

These reports and studies find that there are no differences in the parenting of homosexuals or the adjustment of their children. ... As a result, based on the robust nature of the evidence available in the field, this Court is satisfied that the issue is so far beyond dispute that it would be irrational to hold otherwise; the best interests of children are not preserved by prohibiting homosexual adoption.

You can spot the fallacious legal reasoning from phrases like "no differences", "irrational", "best interests of children", and double negatives. Of course there are differences. The psychology professors have blinders on.

Now that our society has embarked on a vast and irresponsible in parenting by non-parents, I am hoping that at least we get some academic studies comparing male and female parenting styles.

As I write this, an NBA player is being celebrated as the new Jackie Robinson:

In a first-person article posted Monday on Sports Illustrated's website, Collins begins: ''I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay.'' ...

''I have a feeling he's got a whole new career,'' King said. ''I have a feeling he's going to make more in endorsements than he's ever made in his life.''

Sports equipment maker Nike released a statement Monday saying: ''We admire Jason's courage and are proud that he is a Nike athlete. Nike believes in a level playing field where an athlete's sexual orientation is not a consideration.''

A black lesbian basketball player, Sheryl Swoopes, has already been down this path:

Swoopes was married from June 1995 to 1999 to her high school sweetheart, with whom she had a son, Jordan Eric Jackson in 1997. In October 2005, with her announcement that she is gay, Swoopes became one of the highest profile athletes in a team sport to do so publicly. She and her partner, former basketball player and Houston Comets assistant coach, Alisa Scott, whom Swoopes at the time said she would like to someday marry, together raised Swoopes's son, Jordan. ..;

As of 2011, Swoopes had broken up with Alisa Scott and was reportedly engaged to a man.

I guess the leftoid psychologists will say that the child will turn out just as well as any other child because lesbians are born that way and their lesbian relationships are just as good as any others. I hope someone studies these ideas objectively, before everyone goes nuts.

Update: Pres. Barack Obama said:

Yeah, I’ll say something about Jason Collins. I had a chance to talk to him yesterday. ... I told him I couldn’t be prouder of him. ... the LGBT community deserves ... not just tolerance but a recognition that they’re fully a part of the American family. ... this is who I am, I’m proud of it, I’m still a great competitor, I’m still seven feet tall and can bang with Shaq and, you know, deliver a hard foul — ... I’m very proud of him. All right?

Really? Is this what makes our President proudest? There is no word about Collins having a domestic partner or lover, but apparently he does "deliver a hard foul" and "bang with Shaq", whatever that means. And tolerance is not enough, so I have to give my approval? No, I do not have to approve of him banging with Shaq.