Doctors group says heterosexual marriage better for kids

[Graeme]

Doctors group says heterosexual marriage better for kids

Just for background information, there's an ongoing Australian Senate inquiry into marriage equality. This article is about one of the submissions to that inquiry. I personally think the headline is misleading, as I assumed there were talking about the AMA (Australian Medical Association), but it's a small fringe doctors group that made the comment, with the AMA immediately saying that there's no evidence to support the statement. Of course, the headline got me to click on it, which I suppose is the purpose of headlines....

Overall, I think it's a fairly balanced article that reports the opinion and the counter-comments.

[The Pecman]

Man, I can think of several heterosexual couples I know who should have never been allowed to have children. (Or even be allowed near children.)

To me, it all depends on the individuals. There are jerks and bad parents of every race, sexuality, age, and religious group, and I don't think it's as easy as one checkbox on a form.

[Graeme]

To me, it all depends on the individuals. There are jerks and bad parents of every race, sexuality, age, and religious group, and I don't think it's as easy as one checkbox on a form.

I 100% agree. Any study is going to have a fairly large degree of variation, so knowing the exact details of what was studied, what was evaluated, and the exactly what conclusions came out of it are very important. And since there isn't a study that shows what that doctors group said (as the AMA president pointed out), the whole thing becomes one of conjecture and opinion - not scientific fact.

As an aside, one of the past AMA presidents was openly gay and in a long term relationship. It was mentioned from time to time in the newspapers, but most of the time it was ignored. That's something I feel is different to what happens in the USA - public figures sexuality is generally only mentioned in news reports if it's relevant to that news report.

As an example, I only found out recently that the Speaker for the House is gay - because there was an accusation of sexual harassment towards another (also gay) male staff member. It appears it's been common knowledge in Canberra for some time, but even his political opponents never mentioned it (though he now claims he was set up by a political rival... I'm not sure if I believe him, though given the current political climate it has to be viewed as a possibility).

[DesDownunder]

I started to read the article and got as far as

Doctors for the Family's convener Lachlan Dunjey, a right-to-life campaigner who has run as a Senate candidate for the Christian Democratic Party, told ABC News Radio the group is concerned about the health consequences for children of gay marriages.

For me, the Christians Democratic Party's opinions are without merit on anything gay, and particularly on gay marriage.

I agree with Pec.

[EleCivil]

"Doctors for the Family"?

I think it was Bill Maher who said "If a group has 'Family' in the name, it means they're probably a bunch of anti-gay bigots."

[The Pecman]

We need to start "FGF": the Friends of Gay Families. Anything to counteract the American Family Association.

Read this horrifying story about the latter:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Family_Association

[Camy]

Growing up with decent, kind, caring people is far more important than their sex - or colour or creed.

[Paul_and_Paco]

The most thoughtful line in the entire article:

"A child being brought up in a loving home is far more important - and that quality of parenting is far more important - than any of the criticisms that have been waged by this group of individuals,"

I know my parents love me, they show it every day. They show me what love is really all about... respect and devotion to family, gay str8 or somewhere in between. All of us are adopted in one way or another. With two gay couples as parents, I think we will turn out just fine!

[Cole Parker]

Do they actually raise sheep in Mississippi? I thought the only animals they raised there were alligators, snakes and hummingbird-sized mosquitoes.

C