Family Labels

     One of the assignments from this week in my Family Relations class was about gay and lesbian families and if their input as parents is any different from a household where both mom and dad are still together. Although I think this topic is extremely controversial because everyone has their own different opinions, I did find it interesting and even enlightening. As I read the article that was provided, I wondered why the use of inaccurate information to the claims made by the American Psychological Association. As I read this study I also wondered about the reliability and accuracy of the APA. Could this study made by the APA downgrade their reliability because of the misleading information they presented?

    We had to study an interesting article about what the APA, also known as American Psychological Association, had said about it and the "evidence" they presented in their study. The APA had used many resources that had proven that gay families/ lesbian families were no different than an intact family, but the studies shown proved them otherwise because the "evidence" they used was not valid.

    The American Psychological Association had used studies were there were no comparison groups (or the comparison groups were really small) and were they compared a gay/lesbian household with a single parent household, were there is just one parent raising the kid. Using small comparison groups won't work when making a generalized study to prove the average of something and also studying the wrong comparison groups makes the whole study inaccurate. They claimed to compare a heterosexual intact household with a gay/lesbian household, but their sources were not true and inaccurate to their claims. I thought this was interesting because their studies didn't really make sense. Another misleading piece of information the APA used in their studies involving the small comparison groups was the studies of privileged white lesbian moms with single moms. Both groups obviously don't have the same financial or economic status. Other studies presented also didn't really present at how the children in those families turned out. Many studies only look at the parents. APA's claims is inaccurate to the evidence and studies they presented. 

    The article was also about the possible outcomes of the kids in those families. The studies claim that kids in a lesbian or gay household will probably be sexually deviant, criminals, early parents (teen parents), have mental health issued involving suicidal thoughts, have a drug and/or alcohol abuse issue, have some sort of sexual deviance issue, and if these children get married there is the possibility of divorce. I don't think this is always the case. I think kids raised in a lesbian and/or gay household can turn out differently, but this are some of the long term outcomes presented in the study.

    Now, I do think some cases are the exception, but this study was making an examination in a generalized audience or what the average would seem like. As I mentioned before, the American Psychological Association had used comparison groups of single mothers versus a gay or lesbian family and proven that they were the same, but instead of saying that they were comparing a gay/lesbian household to a single parent household, they claimed that the other comparison group was of a heterosexual intact family. We know that single mothers are in disadvantage (although there are some exceptions were it is not the case) and this study shows that gay and lesbian households are too.

    In conclusion, it is proven that the gay and lesbian families are in disadvantage as the studies have shown that the children raised by gay/lesbian parents don't have the best outcome. The APA made false claims and used inaccurate sources to represent gay and lesbian households.