Family Research and Evidence Abstract Summary by Jessica Johnson

Statistical Data proving prevalence of same-gender marriage:

·         “…a recent study indicates that 63% of the U.S. adoption agencies surveyed would approve adoption by homosexual persons (Duncan, 792).”

·         “… survey examined young adults' (“millennials,” those between age 18 and 29 in 2011) …57% favored gay marriage (Marriage, 2).”

·         “…79% of the women in our focus groups favored gay marriage at least somewhat, compared to

only 47% of the men. Nationally, in 2005 64% of college freshman women favor same-sex marriage, compared to 50% of men (Marriage, 28).”

Same Gender Marriage

Title #1: In whose best Interests: Sexual Orientation and Adoption Law

Authors: William C. Duncan

Year: 2003

Source: Marriage Law Foundation

Purpose of Study: Realistically present the issues regarding adoption, particularly same gender couples desiring to adopt, and inform reader of alterations of adoption laws.

Number of Participants: Law Review regarding decisions of courts in the United States and previously conducted research.

How this study addresses the impact of same gender marriage on children and the family:

Duncan begins by presenting the original purposes of adoption. He advocates adoption to married couples of the opposite gender due to the wellbeing of children. He states, “… two aspects of adoption policy (the imitation of the natural family situation and the emphasis on a child’s best interests) are inextricably linked. Stated another way, adoption is a way to provide a child the family the child lacks, not a way to provide adults the child they lack (Duncan, 788).” He continues to describe how individuals desire to change adoption laws for their benefit. He powerfully explains that adoption is to provide a family for a child whose family has fallen apart. Providing the necessities of life for a child is not the main purpose of adoption; rather providing the “ideal family” for the child to be raised in (Duncan, 799). Duncan addresses studies which have been done to research the effects that same gender marriage has on children. Although there is not a great deal of sufficient evidence of how same gender marriage effects children, Duncan concludes that “it cannot serve the best interests of children (Duncan, 803).” Duncan quotes Bishop Michael Scott-Joynt who stated that permitting same gender couples to adopt children “…would be like destroying a precious eco-system on which the security, maturity, well-being and wholesomeness not only of countless individuals but of our society, now and in the future, depends (Duncan 801-802).” 

Title #2: Genderless Marriage and Institutional Theory

Authors: Monte Neil Stewart

Year: 2005

Source: Marriage Law Foundation

Purpose of Study: Assess the effects of redefining marriage and argue current issues.

Number of Participants: Not applicable

How this study addresses the impact of same gender marriage on children and the family:

Stewart discusses the roles that the man and women take on as they enter into marriage. He explains that a man becomes a husband and father within a heterosexual marriage. He also discusses the needs of the children that are met by their parents of opposite genders.  Furthermore, it is best for a child to be raised by his or her biological parents (assuming they can provide for their basic needs and are not abusive to the child, etc.). He quotes Margaret Somerville who states that, “[A]ccepting same-sex marriage necessarily means accepting that the societal institution of marriage is intended primarily for the benefit of the partners to the marriage, and only secondarily for the children born into it (Stewart, 12).” Generally he discusses the idea that family is a critical part of society and that same gender marriage will negatively impact children and families.

                                                                 Same Gender Marriage

Title #1: The Real Danger of Same Sex Marriage               

Authors: Stephen Baskerville

Year: 2006

Source: The Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society

Purpose of Study:  Convince reader that “Undermining traditional marriage threatens not only the family and social stability, but civil freedom (Baskerville).”

Number of Participants: Not Applicable

How this study addresses the impact of same gender marriage on society:

This article addresses multiple issues that stem from destroying the family. Baskerville states that “Conservatives insist that the family is the building block of civil society and that undermining marriage could therefore threaten the social basis of civilization itself (Baskerville).” A logical approach is taken to defining and defending the family as it has been viewed traditionally. Baskerville continues “…same-sex marriage serves no useful social purpose; indeed, it is an absurdity.  It attempts to apply gender interchangeability at precisely the point where gender difference demands that biological reality (motherhood) be reconciled to social necessity (fatherhood)…(Baskerville)” Basically, same gender marriage does not make sense when considering the purposes of the family and it’s critical role in society.

Title #2: Marriage and the Utopian Temptation

Authors: William C. Duncan

Year: 2007

Source: Marriage Law Foundation

Purpose of Study: Investigate the effects on society of actions that redefine marriage.

Number of Participants: Not Applicable

How this study addresses the impact of same gender marriage on society:

Duncan explains that in the past marriage was not a relationship based on love, it was a responsibility.  Further, marriage is directly tied to the bearing and nurturing of children. In the Washington marriage case notes, it argues that marriage exists as a partnership between two people because there are two sexes. Duncan quotes Paul Elmer More who says that supporting an incorrect view of marriage and forgetting its critical role in society will definitely lead to effects that we don’t even want to imagine.  As he concludes he quotes Robert A. Nisbet who stated: “Society cannot be created by individual reason, but it can be weakened by those unmindful of its true nature, for it has deep roots in the past—roots from which the present cannot escape through rational manipulation (Utopian Temptation, 279).” 

References

Baskerville, S. The Real Danger of Same Sex Marriage. The Family in America, Vol. 20. Retrieved May 17, 2014.

Duncan, W. C. In whose best Interests: Sexual Orientation and Adoption Law. . Retrieved May 17, 2014, from the Marriage Law Foundation.

Duncan, W. C. Marriage and the Utopian Temptation. , Vol 59:2. Retrieved May 17, 2014, from http://www.marriagelawfoundation.org/publications/Rutgers.pdf

Lauer, R. H., & Lauer, J. C. (2012). Diversity in Families. Marriage and Family: The Quest for Intimacy (). New York City: McGraw-Hill.

Marriage in the Minds of the Next Generation. iMAPP Research Brief, Vol. 5 . Retrieved May 17, 2014, from the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy.

Stewart, M. N. Genderless Marriage and Institutional Theory. , 1-17.