Gay Parents, Happy Kids?
A few years ago my wife took our daughters for their regular visit to the local library. After some typical activities, she chose some books for our girls and some magazines for her to take home. One of them was the January 2011 issue of the magazine Parents, a leading publication that offers advice from America’s foremost childcare “experts.” She was beginning to enjoy the magazine, till she stumbled across the following propaganda under the title, “Gay Parents, Happy Kids”:
Children raised by two lesbian moms grow into psychologically healthy teens and have fewer behavioral problems than those born into a traditional family structure, according to recent research. “A possible reason for our findings is that the pairs of mothers shared parenting and household responsibilities. And even if moms separated, most couples continued to coparent,” says study coauthor Nanette Gartrell, M.D., associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco (“Gay Parents…,” 2011, p. 29).
It is a deplorable reality for a magazine with a family approach to include a propaganda that degrades the value of the traditional family structure, and instead, praises an immoral alternative that threatens social welfare. This is one more indication of the moral decay experienced by modern American society.
Some points concerning this “scholarly research” should be considered.
First of all, the brief propaganda favoring gay marriage that appeared in Parents did not even provide the original source of research, only the name of a researcher with honorary degrees. (The previous quote is everything that was provided—of course, enhanced with a rainbow, which use is an atrocity since God did not intend for it to be a symbol of gay pride!—cf. Genesis 9:12-17.) It is also interesting to note that the information about the researched “families” was not provided, neither the percentage of “success/failure” on both sides of the controversy. Probably one of the reasons for this lack of information has to do with the credibility of such research.
Second, the skepticism concerning the impartiality of such research increases when considering that Nanette Gartrell, coauthor of the study, is an advocate of lesbianism, and currently holds a lesbian relationship with Dee Mosbacher—a filmmaker involved in lesbian activism and the production of films saturated withpro-homosexuality content (see “Nanette…,” 2010; “About…,” 2010). Gartrell is the leading researcher of a study project of “families” constituted by lesbian mothers. As a whole, her researches are aimed to establish homosexual “family” as a healthy, an even superior, alternative to traditional family structure. Then, what is to be expected from her “findings”? In fact, this is not the first time that she and her co-researchers have discovered similar “findings” (see “Publications”, 2010).
Third, the conclusion of the research, as well as of other similar researches, is generally influenced by the concept of what the researchers qualify as “psychologically and behaviorally healthy.” Of course, for the advocates of same-sex relationships, homosexual/lesbian perversion does not have anything to do with negative human psychology or behavior. If the children of gay parents have a higher probability of engaging in same-sex or bisexual relationships (as another research coauthored by Dr. Gartrell shows—Gartrell, et al., 2010, pp. 1,7), in the end this does not qualify as a psychological or behavioral problem. For them, these children are completely, psychologically, and behaviorally “healthy.” This shows that when people have a twisted concept of morality, they are in a hopeless situation to rightly judge (cf. Isaiah 5:20).
Fourth, note the sensationalistic title chosen for the propaganda favoring lesbianism in Parents: “Gay Parents, Happy Kids.” This title, as of other pro-homosexuality researches, documentaries, and articles (e.g., “Lesbians Parents Better at Raising Children”—Chittenden, 2009), suggests that the key of “success” of such “families” is mainly their gay arrangement. Since the parents are gay, then, we are told, their children are “happy.” This is simply a misleading tactic to get the reader away from the real issue—the inherent immorality of such relationships. Can some atheists raise children who end up being considered “healthy” by modern society? Yes. Does this mean it is because of their atheism or that people should opt for atheism? Absolutely not!
Sometime ago I was watching a TV documentary on international mafia. One of the points that caught my attention was the report concerning the “morality” of their members, revealing a respectful dealing between spouses and the absence of adultery with colleagues’ wives. The mafia functions under a certain “ethical” code that now is known as “The Ten Commandments of the Mafia,” which includes prohibitions to “frequenting bars and looking at friends’ wives, while members are urged to treat their own wives with respect” (“Mafia’s…,” 2007). Does this mean that the mafia should be legalized? Should a person be involved in the mafia to ensure marital faithfulness and respect?
We should keep in mind that the fact a gay couple may raise a child who does not reach the immoral level of his “parents”, or a child that is considered psychologically and behaviorally “healthy” by modern social standards, does not mean that homosexuality is justified or is a better alternative. There are some today who follow the philosophy of “[l]et us do evil that good may come” (Romans 3:8). Others have their conscience so seared that they cannot discern what real happiness and moral success is. After Jeremiah spoke to the Jews in Egypt, many of them answered:
As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you! But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off [Hebrew towb; also translated “joyful,” “cheerful,” “merry”—Strong, 1995, p. 51], and saw no trouble (Jeremiah 44:16-17, emp. added).
If Dr. Gartrell had been present at the time of Jeremiah to do a “scholarly research” of the Jewish families in Egypt, and Parents magazine had had the opportunity to promote the research, the sensationalistic title chosen would have read something like this: “Idolatrous Parents, Happy Kids.” Certainly, those people were enjoying a so-called state of happiness that they had inherited from their wicked parents, but that is not the true happiness God offers (Psalm 32:11; Ecclesiastes 2:26; cf. Hosea 9:1).
Finally, and most importantly, the Bible clearly condemns homosexual/lesbian relationships (Romans 1:26-27; 1 Timothy 1:9-11). Therefore, those who engage in such relationships will be excluded from eternal happiness if they do not repent and change their ways (cf. Matthew 25:21-23; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). As Christians, we should always remember, and help our children understand, the real happiness that comes from God’s loving guidelines for our moral lives (Deuteronomy 4:40; 6:1-3,17-18).
References
“About Woman Vision” (2010), Woman Vision, http://www.womanvision.org/about.html.
Chittenden, Maurice (2009), “Lesbians Parents Better at Raising Children,” The Times http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article6917212.ece.
Gartrell Nanette, et al. (2010), “Adolescents of the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Sexual Orientation, Sexual Behavior, and Sexual Risk Exposure,” NLLFS, http://www.nllfs.org/images/uploads/pdf/NLLFS-adolescents-sexuality-2010.pdf.
“Gay Parents, Happy Kids” (2011), Parents, January.
“Mafia’s ‘Ten Commandments’ found” (2009), BBC News, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7086716.stm.
“Nanette Gartrell, M.D.” (2010), NLLFS, http://www.nllfs.org/about/nanette-gartrell/.
“Publications” (2010), NLLFS, http://www.nllfs.org/publications/.
Strong, James (1995), New Strong’s Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Hebrew Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson).
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