Are Homosexuals Better Parents

This topic submitted by Lauren Merker (Merkerlm@muohio.edu) at 11:23 AM on 4/30/02. Additions were last made on Tuesday, April 30, 2002. Section: Myers.

As we try to delve deeper into the theory of natural selection and its relationship to evolution- the supposed driving force of the nature of our species, and all species- a problem was come across in relation to the homosexual phenomenon. According to the generally accepted theory of evolution, due to gene mutations and the mixing of parental chromosomes etc, some traits that come about are better for the organism to be able to survive and adapt to itÕs environment and therefore its chances of survival are greater leading to an increase in reproductive success. Over time, the organisms that have less favorable genes will not reproduce as frequently and therefore eventually die out. So, if we take this theory and apply it to homosexuality, a first look at it would suggest that the Òhomosexual geneÓ would die out. Homosexuality is not very conducive to reproduction, so the traits that make up a homosexual individual would be thought to eventually work its way out of the gene pool. There must be some traits that homosexual organisms (and for this project I will be concentrating on the human species) possess that are beneficial for the furthering of their genes in the current gene pool.
A prevalent and somewhat accepted theory in the scientific community is the theory of kin selection. According to Robert Wright: ÒHomosexuals, perhaps, are like sterile ants: rather then spend their energy trying to get their genes sent directly to the next generation, they use oblique conduits, rather then invest in children of their own, they invest in siblings, nieces, nephews.Ó (384). This theory of kin selection is seen in many other cultures, more so then the western culture. In many American Indian tribes, homosexuals are extremely revered in their society. It is considered an honor to be a homosexual or to have one in your family. They are considered to have special child raising talents and even to be more intelligent, friendly and embody other beneficial attributes (Cecco). Homosexuals in this society are usually solicited to be the caretakers of the kin of their family members. To embody such special character traits and help with the survival of relations helps their genes that contain these traits stay prevalent in the gene pool. My hypothesis is that homosexuals exemplify certain traits that are superior, in some ways, to traits that heterosexuals exhibit in relation to raising kin, and furthering their gene procreation. Some of these traits include, empathy, responsible, closeness to family, willingness to give and in turn to receive, patience, etc. I also wished o find a correlation between the numbers of siblings someone has with the occurrence of homosexuality. R. Blanchard conducted a study that demonstrated that the occurrence that a man will be homosexual increases in proportion to the number of siblings the individual has. According to this hypothesis, then the homosexual in the family has a greater chance of exhibiting these beneficial traits that I discussed earlier and can use them to help raise the kin of their many siblings. Also according to a study done by Sabis and Fischer Homosexual men were more empathetic then heterosexual men. And in another study they did, they found that empathy and altruism are directly correlated.
This topic interested me for a number of reasons. During our long section on the natural selection theory, homosexuality was only briefly mentioned. Wright stated a few theories on the subject and quickly moved on, leaving me full of questions. The theory of evolution is one that I have always accepted and my thoughts have just been reiterated this semester. So when I come across a possible exception to the theory, I cannot help but delve into it further and come up with my own explanation. I also felt that this topic was a controversial and therefore less studied in the scientific community. I found out about the lack of information on the subject as I was developing my project. This frustrated me because homosexual parenting is quickly becoming a very prevalent aspect in our culture. According to the COLAGE website (children of lesbians and gays everywhere) there are now more then 6-10 million children of gay/lesbian/bisexual/transsexual parents in the world. The Census Bureau estimates that in 1998 there were approximately 1,674,000 same-sex partnerships in the United States; of these 1,674,000 couples, 865,000 were two-male couples and 809,000 were two-female relationships. With the huge numbers of same-sex relationships, it is only natural that the demand for children among this population would be large. And yet the research in this area is severely lacking. Systematic research comparing lesbian and gay adults to heterosexual adults only began in the late 1950s, and research comparing children of gay and lesbian parents with those of heterosexual parents is of a more recent vintage. As the amount of homosexual parents increase in number, the research being conducted on the alternative families is not keeping up. The laws therefore in the United States are not keeping up either. It is still extremely difficult, if not virtually impossible for a homosexual couple to adopt a child. But the research that has been collected has been promising for the cause. This blatant discrimination against homosexual parents with out substantial research to justify it has been noted in custody trail outcomes involving homosexuals. Courts have sometimes assumed that gay men and lesbians are mentally ill, that lesbians are less maternal than heterosexual women, and that lesbians' and gay men's relationships with sexual partners leave little time for ongoing parent-child interactions, etc (Editors of the Harvard Law Review, 1990) (refer to the apa website). Results of research to date have failed to confirm any of these beliefs (Falk, 1989, 1994; Patterson, 1994b, 1995b, 1996). The overwhelming belief that homosexual s are not ÔfitÕ parents is one that is based on nothing but overt prejudice and cruel discrimination, but there has also been little compelling research saying otherwise. This to me poses a huge problem, and it was my goal to aid in the small research field on homosexual parents. I wanted to find evidence that homosexual parent s are just as fit as heterosexual parents, if not more so. And at the very least just put this thought in people Ôs minds for future, more substantial research.
What research has been done has been promising. According to the American Psychological Association Report, research on lesbian and gay adults began with Evelyn Hooker's landmark study (1957) and culminated with the declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973 (Gonsiorek, 1991). Case reports on children of gay and lesbian parents began to appear in the psychiatric literature in the early 1970s (e.g., Osman, 1972; Weeks, Derdeyn, & Langman, 1975) and have continued to appear (e.g., Agbayewa, 1984). Beginning with the pioneering work of Martin and Lyon (1972), first person and fictionalized descriptions of life in lesbian mother families have also become available (e.g., Alpert, 1988; Clausen, 1985; Jullion, 1985; Mager, 1975; Perreault, 1975; Pollock & Vaughn, 1987; Rafkin, 1990). Systematic research on the children of lesbian and gay parents did not, however, begin to appear in major professional journals until 1978, and most of the available research has been published more recently. A challenge that researchers come across most often when it comes to studying homosexual parents, is that it is nearly impossible to acquire an accurate count of the homosexual parent population in comparison to the heterosexual population But most importantly the results of existing research comparing gay and lesbian parents to heterosexual parents and children of gay or lesbian parents to children of heterosexual parents are quite uniform: common stereotypes are not supported by the data. The stereotypes that have been discarded in the scientific community with regard to homosexual parenthood and their children are numerous. The mental health of homosexuals has proved homosexuals to be on average just as mentally healthy or unhealthy as the general population. The rate of mental disorders displayed in homosexuals is not more prevalent then the heterosexual population. Studies also indicate that the children of homosexual parents develop normally. They have the same percentage of sexuality as children raised in a heterosexual family. Reports by both parents and children suggest normal development of peer relationships. (APA website) In summary, there is no evidence to suggest that lesbians and gay men are unfit to be parents or that psychosocial development among children of gay men or lesbians is compromised in any respect relative to that among offspring of heterosexual parents. I have not found a single study has found children of gay or lesbian parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents. Indeed, the evidence to date suggests that home environments provided by gay and lesbian parents are as likely, if not more likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to support and enable children's psychosocial growth.
In order to acquire data for my hypothesis I conducted a survey. I got forty students to complete it. My sample population consisted of mostly students from Western campus and also many were from the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transsexual group here at Miami. This proved to be very beneficial to my study because I managed to get a fairly equal range of sexual preference. My survey was set up to ask some basic questions such as gender race and age. I then included a scale of the degree of sexual preference. 10 being completely homosexual and 1 being completely heterosexual. I asked how often they interacted with their family members, how many siblings they have and how far away they lived from members of their family. I did this to form a basis about how close the individual is with their family in relation to their degree of sexuality. I did not find a substantial correlation between degree of sexuality and the amount of siblings they had. But looking at the graph about the degree of sexuality vs. the amount of interaction the individual has with their family, I found a slight correlation that seems to say that the bisexual population (people who ranked themselves between a 5 and 7) interacts with their family more often on a weekly basis. I then went on to ask people to rate their willingness to do certain things for members of their family. (Please refer to survey) I intended to find a correlation between the degree of sexuality and the willingness one would be to do things for their family. The two categories that I graphed with the highest degree of correlation was willingness to raise a family memberÕs child and willingness to lend monetary funds to a family member. Although the correlation was somewhat small, it seems to indicate that the more homosexual the individual is, the more willing they are to raise a family memberÕs child and the more willing they are to lend money to a family member. This supports the theory I mentioned earlier involving homosexuality and the altruistic behavior they might embody when it comes kinship. I then went on to ask them to rate themselves on a scale of one to ten (ten being the most patient or responsible etc.) certain traits that were particularly conducive to child raising. In order to eliminate at least some bias when it comes to rating yourself, which is practically impossible, I simply asked them to be unbiased when approaching this survey. I realized that this was a fairly futile effort, but in the form of a survey, this type of question is nearly impossible for the individual to approach unbiased. The only way I could gain that information with out the individual being biased in his or her answers, would be for me to interview the person myself. But even then I would probably be somewhat biased in my interpretation of the results also. So when it comes to asking people to analyze personality traits, it is a biased question in its essence. I then took the averages of these traits and did not find any considerable correlation between degree of sexuality and these traits. The only one, which had any slight correlation, was whether they are good with children. The results seemed to indicate that the more homosexual one is the better they are with children. This correlation is even further exemplified in the interview I conducted, but I will talk about that later. For now, my data has indicated to me, not that my hypothesis was disproven, just that I needed a much larger sample size. For there were some slight correlations, but they indicated nothing significant.
I still consider this data to be helpful and informative. It still leads me to believe that homosexuals exhibit more traits that are conducive for child rearing.
Interview
In order to develop a more individualized base of information for my project, I chose to interview a middle aged, lesbian mother of a five-year old- Kiley. Kiley lives in an ÒalternativeÓ family, which consists of two mothers. I started off asking Becky about her life up to this point. I wasnÕt surprised to find out that she had a fairly unconventional, bordering on dysfunctional adolescence. Becky attended college for only a year before she decided that college wasnÕt right for her at that point. She needed to find herself before someone did for her. Her father died during this tumultuous period in her life and she needed time to deal with this unfortunate experience. Becky eventually got back on her feet stronger then ever and ended up finishing college at Miami UniversityÕs
Western program. Her gift of dealing with children has been exhibited in many aspects of her life. I was pleased that her experiences coincided with my project perfectly. Becky established the Oxford Early
Childhood Center and managed that for over ten years. During the interview Becky exhibited nothing but care and compassion for children as a whole. She spoke of how much she loved the childhood center and how fulfilling it was for her to be a part of. She was extremely successful at this position, which eventually helped her when she opened a childrenÕs book and toy store. After listening to Becky talk passionately about her life up to this point I then asked her to tell me about the family she has established at this time. She began by telling me about her two siblings. This information was extremely helpful and informative for my project. She explained to me about the relationship she has with her nephew, a 25 year old who also went through a tumultuous adolescence. During this time her nephew somewhat ÔdisownedÕ his mother. Becky took over the position of raising him for about five years of his late teenage years. This altruistic behavior coincided perfectly with the theory of altruism and kinship among homosexuals. Evolutionarily speaking, behavior that seems unexplainable with regard to perpetuation of ones genes is questioned when individuals seem to be acting with sole consideration for others. For it seems that when actions are being performed to benefit others, it seems logical that it would detract from the altruistÕs own reproductive success. It would seem that genes predisposing towards such selfless behavior would be quickly eliminated by the laws that govern natural selection. But altruism is largely reoccurring and prevalent among all species so it must be the case that the characteristic of altruism is genetically determined and therefore beneficial to the individual. Altruism ties directly into the hypothesis of kin selection. For if the recipients of the altruistic act is a close relative then in essence, the selfless acts that the individual is performing is then favoring its own reproductive success.
For Becky, helping raise her nephew, who shares many of the same alleles that she has, is benefiting his reproductive success and therefore perpetuating her own. So in acting altruistically the individual is really just acting out of his or her own self-interest.
According to William Paul, along with the other co-editors, the editor of Homosexuality- Social, Psychological and Biological issues,
ÒHomosexuality might be one expression of the genetic component of altruism in humans. In primitive societies homosexuals may have formed a kind of Ôsterile casteÕ which, freed from the need to direct energy towards raising their own offspring, gave a special advantage to their kin by providing various forms of help which would not have been available in kin groups lacking homosexuals.Ó Becky is also playing a role in being a helpful aunt to her brotherÕs two-year-old daughter. She makes frequent visits and keeps a level of communication between her and the family. Moving on to the subject of her immediate family, BeckyÕs eyes lit up when she excitedly told me about her family. Her partner and her decided to have a child and after multiple failed tries at artificial insemination they decided on international adoption, which has proved to be nearly impossible for homosexual partners. Because Ohio is not currently a state that allows same sex parent
adoption, BeckyÕs partner, Anne, claimed that she was a single parent and was finally blessed with a baby girl from china. I then questioned Becky further on her parenting techniques and asked her to rate herself critically as a parent, not a lesbian parent just merely a parent. I was extremely impressed with her intelligent and well thought out methods of parenting. She explained to me that she believes in natural consequences. ÒYoung children arenÕt stupid, they learn from their actions naturally by witnessing the causes and feedback from the action. If Kiley were to throw sand at one of her peers, she would
learn that was unacceptable behavior because of the negative reaction the child exhibited as a result of the sand being thrown at him.Ó And if that didnÕt get through to her, she would be removed from the situation, if you throw sand, then no sandbox. Becky described herself and seemed to me to be a fairly patient and intelligent parent who treats her daughter with a great deal of respect. She is a firm, consistent and most of all a loving parent. And as a result Kiley is a well-developed child who is described by her teachers very positively. She is above average in terms of academics and very advanced verbally. For me, the chance to sit down and have a very real conversation about the exact topic that I am studying was revealing and beneficial. It coincided with many of the insights I had already studied and read about. Examining a real life example of homosexual kinship and altruism at work proved to add a great deal to the topic I am researching.
All in all whether or not my results of this semester long project were valid or scientifically useful or significant in any way, this was very beneficial for me and the general reading audience as a whole. For my hypothesis was purely a theory that seemed to make sense within the context of another theory- natural selection. Natural selection is not easily proven which is why many people do not except it as a valid theory. Even if I were to gather a considerably large sample size for the surveys, and interview many, many more people the chance that homosexuals will be regarded as better parents or even reveared in our culture is a far chance. But that wasnÕt my intention. What I believe all of the previous research and my findings are saying is that homosexual parents, when it comes done to it, are just parents. Just like any heterosexual couple, homosexuals have the capability to be just as loving and caring parents. During my course of research I was contemplating what I would conclude if I were to find compelling results that suggested that homosexual parents were more fit to be parents. My theory I came up with is slightly more believable for most people. Since homosexual parents are looked down upon and their fitness as parents is questioned so much, they probably feel compelled to go above and beyond the normal duties of a parent in order to prove society wrong. They put forth more time and effort for they had to go through a lot more in order to get that child and therefore might have the tendency to become Ôsuper parentsÕ. This might be a more believable and culturally explainable theory then the natural selection theory explaining their overt altruistic nature. To me it is sad and frustrating that the human population needs very strong and compelling evidence that homosexuals are just as fit to be parents as heterosexuals. But if that is what it takes then I am sure that is what they will get. For although my research was not very indicative to anything- it did say that homosexuals are not less fit as parents. And until some major research is done in this field, the ability for homosexual couples to adopt children will remain very difficult. But it would help if people would open their minds to differences and accept others for who they are. A fourteen-year-old girl stated to thousands of people in Washington: ÒMy moms have taught me to be open to difference.Ó If everyone would teach their children this simple thing, then we wouldnÕt need compelling scientific research to change peopleÕs minds. And maybe that is where homosexual parents excel.

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