Fake adoption research demonizes same-sex couples

Don’t be fooled into thinking a majority of pediatricians in the U.S. believe children are harmed if they are raised by same-sex parents.

That’s the false impression one might get from the amicus brief filed last week by the American College of Pediatricians with the Alabama Supreme Court.

The organization is an ideologically conservative group of perhaps several hundred doctors and health care workers who oppose equal rights for gays and lesbians, including the rights to marry and adopt or foster children.

Don’t confuse it with the much larger and widely respected American Academy of Pediatrics, with an estimated 60,000 members.

The smaller group split from the AAP in 2002 when it came out in support of second-parent adoptions by partners of the same sex. Those adoptions protect “children’s right to maintain relationships with both parents, eligibility for health benefits and financial security,” the AAP website correctly notes.

The suit ACPeds has joined is a spurious challenge from two Birmingham-based conservative groups – the Alabama Policy Institute and the Alabama Citizens Action Program – related to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision striking down same-sex marriage bans.

Never mind that the matter is moot. Marriage equality is now the settled law of the land, and no amount of defiance from the state high court will alter that.

But the real issue here is that ACPeds’ claim it wants to safeguard children is deceptive. Denying same-sex couples adoption rights actually poses very real dangers to children.

The group’s brief says research shows children raised by same-sex parents, “particularly those who identify as married,” fare worse than those raised by opposite-sex parents, and that many “experience substantial harm.”

That’s untrue. ACPeds has a long history of distorting data from legitimate studies on the issue and using bogus anti-gay research to prop up its views.

Real research on the well-being of children of gay and lesbian parents overwhelmingly shows they fare equally to their peers.

The protections of a stable home where both parents can legally and equally shoulder the responsibilities of parenthood – including making medical decisions in an emergency – clearly benefit children.

Yes, some children of same-sex couples will suffer from neglect, abuse or other ills, as will some with opposite-sex parents.

That’s where any group anxious to protect the well-being of children should focus its efforts.

On ending child abuse wherever it occurs and supporting all sincere individuals who want to adopt a partner’s child or give children in foster care a forever home.

Not on demonizing gay and lesbian parents with fake research findings.