I find it interesting that today’s media outlets want us to believe everything that they tell us without any thought on our part. With today’s toxic political climate being at an all-time high, it is getting harder and harder to sift through all of the opinions and find actual facts. In my Family Relations class, we discussed an article that pointed out some serious issues in regards to a brief that was published by the American Psychological Association back in 2005. The brief published by the APA states that "Not a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents" (p. 15). In the article we read in class, we read that facts are not always facts. In today’s political climate, we have come to know that certain political organizations regularly change the definitions of words and facts in order to fit their political agendas. The article published by the American Psychological Association demonstrates this clearly. When it comes to them achieving an outcome, if you hide, manipulate, redefine, or otherwise deceive, you can accomplish almost anything. For example, the facts that the APA laid out, lead us to believe what they want us to believe. However, in the article written by Loren Marks that we studied in class, we learn some interesting facts when it broke down the sources in the APA's brief. The APA did not equalize the playing field as it were, when it comes to backing up its statements. The APA claimed that "Not a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents" (p. 15). By yet, when they did their own research, they compared the "disadvantage" of children from lesbian or gay parents to the "disadvantage" of children from single parent homes. Studies have proven that single parent children tend to be very disadvantaged in society. So, the study provided by the APA bases its "facts" on connections that are contradictory to the position its claiming. In the APA's brief, they used no control groups for their studies, they compared their children to the children of single parent families, and they mainly focused on the behavior disposition of the parents and not the quality of the children's childhoods. They also had a number of groups with alcohol abusing families.  It seems that we need to be able to critically think for ourselves and resist the urge to be spoon fed lies, because otherwise, we too will be filled to the brim with the B.S. that the media can’t seem to get enough of.

Now all that said, I'm not against lesbians or gay people raising children. Not at all. My concern is that it is a fairly new concept in relation to raising children and when it comes to raising the next generation, I think it is important to understand the pros and cons of our family structures. Something so important is worth having valid and ethical research done on it. Not the one sided, you'll believe what I tell you nonsense that the APA manufactured in 2005. The idea of one man and one woman marrying and raising a family is not a new concept. It has been developed and evolved over thousands of years. It is not a new concept by any means. Modern marriage is the product of successful patterns thriving, and unsuccessful patterns dying off. The research is there. I'm sure there are lesbian and gay families that have raised healthy functioning people into adulthood. I know for a fact there are many heterosexual families that have raised dysfunctional people into adulthood. Families are a bit of a mixed bag to say the least. Just keep in mind when research is presented, it would be wise to take it with a grain of salt.



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