Maggie Gallagher reacts to the new study purporting to show that the gender of parents doesn’t matter to the well-being of children.
Back in the 1990s, when I went into the public square and said, “Marriage really matters because children need a mom and a dad,” I wasn’t permitted to rest my case on vague generalities — I was required to produce data. Mounds of data, in fact. We have no scientific evidence at all, that I know of, that children raised by same-sex couples benefit if their unions are legally considered marriages.Why is that now self-evident? Why is no data at all required of people proposing novel family forms, while anyone advocating for something traditional requires mounds of scientific data to get a hearing in the public square?…
I do not think same-sex marriage will serve child well-being in any appreciable way, and I don’t think there is much sign that that is the goal….
Same-sex marriage is primarily an attempt to serve the dignity interests of gay people. It represents the government’s good housekeeping seal of approval on the idea that their relationships are the same as anyone else. Let’s not fool ourselves; we’re not doing this for the kids.
Read it all here.