Study: Same-sex parents raise well-adjusted kids

After more than 25 years of research, the American Academy of Pediatrics has found no link between parents’ sexual orientation and their children's emotional well-being.

By Charyn Pfeuffer - MSN Living Editor Mar 22, 2013 7:23PM

The hot topic of same-sex marriage headed to the Supreme Court today for arguments on its constitutionality.

Support for the legalization of same-sex marriage sits at 53 percent and a recent USA Today/Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans say gays and lesbians should be able to legally adopt children.

On Thursday, the American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, issued a powerful statement supporting marriage equality for all consenting couples, as well as full adoption and foster-care rights for parents regardless of sexual orientation, reports The Huffington Post.

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“There is a lot of research to back up this policy,” Dr. Ellen C. Perrin, a professor of pediatrics at the Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center in Boston told The Huffington Post. “If a child has two parents that are dedicated and willing to provide a permanent, secure family, why would we not support that family? It's clearly in the best interest of children.”

In 2006, after 25 years of research the AAP concluded it had found no link between parents' sexual orientation and their children's emotional well-being.

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“The statement by the AAP also reaffirms more than 30 years of social science research that concludes that children grow up with the same positive developmental outcomes whether their parents are of the same gender or different genders,” wrote a Family Equality Council spokesperson on its website. “More importantly, it matches the lived experiences of many of our parents who have raised a generation of children into young adulthood who are successful by every measure.”

In the United States, between 1 million and 6 million children are being reared by committed lesbian or gay couples.

Read the rest of the article here.

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