The Kids Really Are Alright

New study says gay moms and dads are just as good for kids as straight ones

Photo by Think Stock

A new UCLA study has confirmed something we’ve known all along – gay moms and dads are just as good for kids as straight parents. Psychologists studied high-risk children who were adopted from the foster care system in Los Angeles – and who were placed with both same-sex and straight parents.

“On average, children in both household types showed significant gains in cognitive development and maintained similar levels of behavior problems over time, despite gay and lesbian parents raising children with higher levels of biological and environmental risks prior to adoptive placement,” the researchers revealed in this month’s American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. “Results demonstrated that high-risk children show similar patterns of development over time in heterosexual and gay and lesbian adoptive households.”

On average, kids’ IQs also increased when placed in homes with parents. For children in the system who need homes – this study can have significant implications, especially when you consider that potentially two million gay and lesbian parents are interested in adopting, according to a study from a few years ago (that number could actually be higher as more states make it easier for this to happen). Currently, only 19 states allow gay people to adopt (this includes Washington D.C.).

The study’s co-author Letitia Anne Peplau says: “There is no scientific basis to discriminate against gay and lesbian parents.”