GAYS DEFEND MARRIAGE

Some research, including that of Judith Stacey, has shown that while children of gay parents are no more likely to be gay, they are more likely to engage in same-sex experimentation. This research is preliminary and controversial, so I’m not asserting that it’s true. I just want to ask: what if it’s true? Do we care?

As someone who is tolerant of same-sex lifestyles but believes gay sex is immoral, I would be particularly disturbed by that finding. I can accept that, gosh, some, most, or nearly all gay people are going to have gay sex. But I certainly don’t want to encourage straight teens to “try out” gay sex in part because that’s what their mothers or fathers do. So if it’s true, I’d see it as another reason to prefer opposite-sex parenting over same-sex.

Finally, what’s the deal with everyone’s non-critical acceptance of the widely claimed “fact” that children of gays are no more likely to be gay? That just seems stupid to me. Of course they’re more likely to be (openly) gay. Some children of heterosexuals never come out or at least not while their parents are alive because of their parents’ homophobia. That’s obviously not a problem with children of gays. Could there be a countervailing force? Or is it possible, just possible, that the researchers find what they want to find, since they are overwhelmingly supportive of gay parenting in the first place?