In today’s society, despite the obvious legal process that has been made in developing the image of a modern family regarding same sex parents, a key issue remains: the number of gay couples receiving unwanted or negative attention regarding to starting their own family. Although support and tolerance for the gay community is increasing, there still seems to be a debate on whether gay couples are fit to raise a child. Many people believe that being raised by gay parents could damage the child’s wellbeing, due to lacking appropriate gender role modeling, however, many others believe if the child is raised in a pure environment, it’s not important if they are raised by a single parent or two mothers or two fathers or even a mother and a father. There are several ways in which gay couples can become parents: surrogacy, co-parenting, adoption and IVF. Therefore, the ultimate question is: can a modern family raise a healthy child?
Many people believe having two parents of the same sex is more non-beneficial towards the child than having two parents of a difference sex, however, a source revealed in 2005 that “not a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to the children of heterosexual parents.” From the years of 2006-7, in the UK, there was 90 reported adoptions. In just ten years, the number of adoptions have quintupled. Although there have been no studies to confirm whether the sexual orientation of parents have an impact on children’s emotional, behavioral or psychosocial adjustment, people still presume it does.
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Despite the perception of some more conservative mindsets, being brought up in a same sex parent family is not only damaging, but actually has psychological benefits. Recent studies have shown that children who are raised by gay parents are more accustomed to difference and are more likely to appreciate equality. These children will therefore not only have admiration for the LGBTQ community but they will also be able to build a strong and genuine relationship with their parents due to the fact that they grew up in an open environment where they can openly express their feelings. Without having to stress about what their parents think, they will be able to manifest and speak shamelessly about their own sexuality, which will make them feel less anxious and disoriented.
Homosexual couples have to face many obstacles in order to become parents, they could either pay for IVF, which can be dangerous to both the mother and the child if a problem occurs, they could find a woman willing to carry their child, they could adopt or throughout previous relationships in which they had a child, could co-parent. Although some heterosexual couples may have to face these problems too, gay couples have no alternative. Seeing that gay couples had to actively choose and work diligently to become parents, where most heterosexual parents don’t, gay parents may be more encouraged and devoted to raise a child.
However, despite the obvious fact that so many of the so called ‘concerns’ of the more conservative members of our society turn out to be thinly veiled homophobia, there is one key issue that does affect children of same-sex parents more than others: bullying. With the number of children raised by gay parents increasing each year, many of them still seem to become a victim of bullying – whether it be physical, emotional, cyber or verbal. Despite the fact that they are different types of bullying, they all may affect a person in the same way – loneliness, depression, anxiety, lead to low self esteem and in some cases, the child may become suicidal. A study from 2017 stated that “Nearly half of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans young people have been bullied at school for being LGBT at school”. Classmates and peers may stereotype the child as gay/lesbian, the only reason being that their parents are homosexual. This may lead the child to lose if not some, but all their friends due to the reason that the child is “believed” to be homosexual, which may also make the child feel isolated from society.
Adoptive parents are accumulating and have the capability to reduce the number of children who are staying in welfare communities. Adoption is also known as the ideal alternative for the foster-care system. As stated by the Adoption Register for April 2015 to March 2017
In conclusion, a key issue in today’s society is the number of gay couples receiving unwanted or negative attention regarding to starting their own family. Gay couples are facing more threats than ever with the social society increasing. These threats or comments could make the couples towards anxiety or they may even eventually give up on starting their own family, due to the fact that they are receiving too much prejudice. In my opinion, homosexual couples and heterosexual couples are equals, no one should be malicious or abusive towards anyone regarding their beliefs.
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