What Every Parent of a Gay Child Needs to Know: 9. You Still May Have Grandchildren

According to the US Census Bureau's data from 2010, the number of children in LGBT households doubled  since 2000.  And 25% of the children are biologically related to one of the parents.  Adoption accounts for the rest.  The trend continues into this decade as states are making it easier for gay couples to adopt.

According to the American Fertility Association, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and the District of Columbia allow gay or lesbian stepparents to adopt their partners’ children. Except for Pennsylvania, those states also allow any other same-sex couples to adopt, as do Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington. North Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, and New Hampshire specifically prohibit it. All states except Florida allow a single LGBT person to adopt.

This trend toward expanding the right of gay couples to adopt is driven, in part, by research which shows that children are not adversely affected by being raised by same-sex couples.  The American Psychological Association states in their official policy that "research has shown that the adjustment, development, and psychological well-being of children is unrelated to parental sexual orientation and that the children of lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish." http://www.apa.org/about/policy/parenting.aspx  There is also no qualitative difference between the love of same-sex couples for their children and that of heterosexual couples.  To those who think otherwise, I have only one response: you don't know enough LGBTs who have formed families and been together for decades.

Same-sex couples are forming families at an astonishing rate with the increased acceptance of gay normalcy across America.  So, if you are the parent of an LGBT child, your chances of becoming a grandparent are still very good.  This is just another of the many ways that, once people get to know LGBTs and their families, they turn out to be little different from any other families we know.

One of the arguments against same-sex marriage is that gays can't procreate.  But marriage is for many more things than procreation.  With all the orphans that need good homes, it seems to me that LGBT families offer a great service to the rest of us when they take one or more into their homes.

The video below is just a slice of how gay adoption not only results in a happy child,

but in even happier parents!

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