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Tennessee Senate passes legislation allowing adoption agencies to deny gay couples

Evangelicalhumanist

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
Darkforbid said:
'Ultimately, Mark Regnerus set out to answer the question of whether children who have parents in a same-sex relationship experience disadvantages when compared with children raised by their biological, married parents. The answer, contra the zeitgeist, appears to be a resounding yes. Children with a parent in a same-sex relationship “underperform” in almost every category. Some of these differences may be relatively benign — whether one voted in the last presidential election, for example — but most are decidedly not. One deficit is particularly worrying: Less than 2 percent of children from intact, biological families reported experiencing sexual abuse of some nature, but that figure for children of same-sex couples is 23 percent. Similarly disturbing is that 14 percent of children from same-sex couples have spent some time in foster care, compared with around 2 percent of the American population at large. Arrest, drug experimentation, and unemployment rates were all higher among children from same-sex families.'

Social Science Journal study, Mark Regnerus
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Fascinating stats -- BUT....

Three years ago, against the strong consensus of social scientists and professional child-welfare groups, University of Texas sociologist Mark Regnerus concluded that children of gay parents fare worse than children raised by married opposite-sex parents. In the face of intense criticism and a scorching assessment from a federal judge (“not worthy of serious consideration”), Regnerus doubled down on his conclusions and filed an amicus brief against gay marriage in federal court.

But a new critique of Regnerus’ work by Professors Simon Cheng (University of Connecticut) and Brian Powell (Indiana University), published in the same journal as his original study, Social Science Research (available free to most academics and for a $35.95 fee to the general public), suggests that Regnerus misclassified a significant number of children as being raised in same-sex households. Based on a re-evaluation of the data, it concludes there are minimal differences in outcome for children raised by same-sex parents and married opposite-sex parents.
 
Father Heathen

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
Darkforbid said:
'Ultimately, Mark Regnerus set out to answer the question of whether children who have parents in a same-sex relationship experience disadvantages when compared with children raised by their biological, married parents. The answer, contra the zeitgeist, appears to be a resounding yes. Children with a parent in a same-sex relationship “underperform” in almost every category. Some of these differences may be relatively benign — whether one voted in the last presidential election, for example — but most are decidedly not. One deficit is particularly worrying: Less than 2 percent of children from intact, biological families reported experiencing sexual abuse of some nature, but that figure for children of same-sex couples is 23 percent. Similarly disturbing is that 14 percent of children from same-sex couples have spent some time in foster care, compared with around 2 percent of the American population at large. Arrest, drug experimentation, and unemployment rates were all higher among children from same-sex families.'

Social Science Journal study, Mark Regnerus
Click to expand...

Reading up on the guy (Mark Regnerus - Wikipedia), it sounds like he was driven by a religious agenda and skewed if not out-right fabricated his "findings"; his mind was made up before he began his "study".
 
C

columbus

yawn <ignore> yawn
We Never Know said:
There are good and bad in both gay and straight couples.
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Here's the thing, though.
It's easy for gay people to avoid parenthood, for whatever reason. For gay people, parenting requires jumping through agency hoops and writing checks and proving that you've got the skills and wherewithal to properly raise a child.

Any two heterosexual idiots can become parents, especially if they're too irresponsible to use effective birth control.
That's why adoptive parents tend to outperform natural parents. And gay parents are usually held to an even higher standard than straight people.
That's why gay people are better parents. It's not because gay people are inherently better at parenting. It's because they're more carefully vetted than straight people.
Tom
 
Darkforbid

Darkforbid

Well-Known Member
columbus said:
Here's the thing, though.
It's easy for gay people to avoid parenthood, for whatever reason. For gay people, parenting requires jumping through agency hoops and writing checks and proving that you've got the skills and wherewithal to properly raise a child.

Any two heterosexual idiots can become parents, especially if they're too irresponsible to use effective birth control.
That's why adoptive parents tend to outperform natural parents. And gay parents are usually held to an even higher standard than straight people.
That's why gay people are better parents. It's not because gay people are inherently better at parenting. It's because they're more carefully vetted than straight people.
Tom
Click to expand...

Well thanks for the biology lesson. How does the vetting differ between straight and gay couples
 
Darkforbid

Darkforbid

Well-Known Member
Father Heathen said:
Reading up on the guy (Mark Regnerus - Wikipedia), it sounds like he was driven by a religious agenda and skewed if not out-right fabricated his "findings"; his mind was made up before he began his "study".
Click to expand...

The public and academic reaction to Regnerus' research has been referred to as a "witch hunt" by his former mentor Christian Smith. In his book The Sacred Project of American Sociology, Smith calls this backlash a result of the content of sociology's "sacred project" (of mitigating oppression, inequality, etc.); Smith argued that the critical reaction e.g. on methodological issues displayed a set of double standards insofar as work by other scholars could be (but is generally not) subjected to similar criticism. Smith said that "The push-back" to Regnerus' article "is coming simply because some people don't like where the data led."
 
Shad

Shad

Veteran Member
We Never Know said:
If the religious deem a gay couple sinners and deny them from adopting a child, isn't that judging them and therefore the religious are guilty of committing sin too?

In first bill of the year, Tennessee Senate passes legislation allowing adoption agencies to deny gay couples
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This is about taking part in the sins of others not judgement which about punishment and the afterlife. 1 Timothy 5:22.

It is stretching religious protection status while pitting it against guardianship and welfare of the child as a legal battle.
 
C

columbus

yawn <ignore> yawn
Of these choices, which would you prefer?

1) Raised by a heterosexual couple who thought you wouldn't get pregnant if you "did it" standing up.
2) Raised by the state run foster care system.
3) Raised by two guys who overcame every obstacle a homophobic adoption agency could think of.

Tom
 
C

columbus

yawn <ignore> yawn
Full disclosure:
Adoption policies are more personal to me than many other people.

My bio-mom and sperm donor were irresponsible teenagers in the 50s. The very Catholic adoption agency that found me a forever family did very well for us. I hate to think about what my life would have been like if I'd been stuck with a single teenaged mom who resented me, and couldn't pursue her goals, because sperm donor wanted to marry a virgin instead of the mother of his oldest son.

I want to see adoptive parents rigorously vetted, but also drawn from the largest possible pool of competent adults. Because there are still a lot of kids out there who are "stuck in the system".
Tom
 
Darkforbid

Darkforbid

Well-Known Member
columbus said:
Of these choices, which would you prefer?

1) Raised by a heterosexual couple who thought you wouldn't get pregnant if you "did it" standing up.
2) Raised by the state run foster care system.
3) Raised by two guys who overcame every obstacle a homophobic adoption agency could think of.

Tom
Click to expand...

1)
 
Darkforbid

Darkforbid

Well-Known Member
columbus said:
I'm glad you weren't in charge of my infancy.
Tom

ETA ~Had I been conceived in 1978, rather than pre-RvW 58, I probably would have wound up in a dumpster behind a hospital.~
Click to expand...

How would their misconceptions about pregnancy affect an infant
 
Father Heathen

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
Darkforbid said:
The public and academic reaction to Regnerus' research has been referred to as a "witch hunt" by his former mentor Christian Smith. In his book The Sacred Project of American Sociology, Smith calls this backlash a result of the content of sociology's "sacred project" (of mitigating oppression, inequality, etc.); Smith argued that the critical reaction e.g. on methodological issues displayed a set of double standards insofar as work by other scholars could be (but is generally not) subjected to similar criticism. Smith said that "The push-back" to Regnerus' article "is coming simply because some people don't like where the data led."
Click to expand...

Oh, another guy with an evangelist agenda. Of course we can trust them to be honest and objective. :rolleyes:
 
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