Written: 1/12/2012
I’ve never been a kid person (ironic, I know). I just don’t connect well to young kids. That’s a whole different blog post, but suffice to say, I’m looking to have kids (at least right now).
However, sometimes, asshats need to be reminded that members of the LGBT community can be awesome parents (just like they can be shitty parents too):
The Williams Institute, a research center on sexual orientation law and public policy at UCLA School of Law, has announced new findings from the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS), the longest-running study ever conducted on American lesbian families (now in its 24th year). In an article published today in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, the 17-year-old daughters and sons of lesbian mothers were asked about sexual abuse, sexual orientation, and sexual behavior.
The paper found that none of the 78 NLLFS adolescents reports having ever been physically or sexually abused by a parent or other caregiver.This contrasts with 26 percent of American adolescents who report parent or caregiver physical abuse and 8.3 percent who report sexual abuse. According to the authors, “the absence of child abuse in lesbian mother families is particularly noteworthy, because victimization of children is pervasive and its consequences can be devastating
Not that science and reason has ever convinced bigots to change their minds though, but it’s nice to see a study like this.
Rob, over at Waking Up Now, takes over in another amazing column, please have a read (it’s also a piece about how those seeking to take away our rights selectively edit research done on the topic)
All my best,
The King of Spades
