Gay parents give kids better ‘general health,’ says scientific report by gay dad

A new study from researchers with the University of Melbourne in Australia concludes that gay parents provide children with a better family atmosphere than traditional male-female parents in two key areas: “general health and family cohesion,” the authors said.

The study included research of 315 gay parents and 500 of their children, with most of the parents being lesbians, Raw Story reported. Among the findings: Children being raised by gay parents registered 6 percentage points higher than children being raised by traditional male-female parents in terms of “general health and family cohesion,” leading researcher Simon Crouch reported, in Raw Story.

Mr. Crouch identifies himself as “a gay man raising children,” his blog said.

“That’s really a measure that looks at how well families get along, and it seems that same-sex parent families and the children in them are getting along well, and this has positive impacts on child health,” Mr. Crouch told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Mr. Crouch said one of the biggest reasons for the higher happiness finding in households run by gay parents is because housework is more equitably distributed.

“Previous research has suggested that parenting roles and work roles, and home roles within same-sex parentally families are more equitably distributed when compared to heterosexual families,” he said, Raw Story reported. “What this means is that people take on roles that are suited to their skill sets rather than falling into those gender stereotypes, which is mum staying home and looking after the kids and dad going out to earn money.”

He also said that the study breaks down barriers to gay parents raising children.

“Quite often, people talk about marriage equality in the context of family and that marriage is necessary to raise children in the right environment, and that you need a mother and a father to be able to do that, and that marriage should be restricted to male and female couples,” Mr. Crouch said, Raw Story reported. “But I think what the study suggests in that context is that actually children can be brought up in many different family contexts, and it shouldn’t be a barrier to marriage equality.”