New study on same-sex parenting

Over at Public Discourse, Ana Samuel provides a helpful summary of the recent family structure study comparing parenting outcomes of same-sex couples and intact biological families.  I'm impressed by Dr. Samuel's restrained conclusions and measured tone.  Though the outcomes for children raised by parents engaged in same-sex relationships were worse than for children raised within intact biological families,  she readily acknowledges the significant differences between the sample populations:

The study found that the children who were raised by a gay or lesbian parent as little as 15 years ago were usually conceived within a heterosexual marriage, which then underwent divorce or separation, leaving the child with a single parent. That parent then had at least one same-sex romantic relationship, sometimes outside of the child's home, sometimes within it. To be more specific, among the respondents who said their mother had a same-sex romantic relationship, a minority, 23%, said they had spent at least three years living in the same household with both their mother and her romantic partner. Only 2 out of the 15,000 screened spent a span of 18 years with the same two mothers. Among those who said their father had had a same-sex relationship, no children reported spending at least three years together with both men.

It's not surprising, then, that children raised by the same two parents over the course of their childhoods fared better than children raised by a single parent with different partners.  Critics readily point out that the relevant comparison should be between parenting by an intact opposite-sex couple and parenting by an intact same-sex couple.  The study's defenders will explain that couples remaining intact over the course of an entire childhood do not reflect the reality of today's same-sex parenting.  Proponents of same-sex marriage will jump in at this point and say, "See?  That's why same-sex marriage is so important if we care about supporting same-sex relationships over time and lending stability to families headed by same-sex couples."  Opponents will respond that there is something inherently suboptimal about the parenting provided by same-sex couples (as well as, on average, single parents, divorced parents, cohabiting parents, and step-parents) compared to still-married biological parents, and the law cannot overcome that gap.  In other words, the study is not a conversation-stopper, but it is a helpful contribution to an important debate and well worth reading.