The Great New Jersey Civil Rights Referendum of 2012

[Joe Republic]

I will be voting on the gay marriage law in NJ. I support domestic partership benefits for same-sex couples, but marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman and children are best raised either with 2 parents of different gender or one parent. I will be voting no.

Are you aware that the weight of credible studies from a range of sources completely disagree with this claim?

Here's some legwork I did a while back, which will support your statement:

Search for "effect of gay parents on children" in Google Scholar, and here's what you'll find just on Page 1:

• "To date, however, there is no evidence that the development of children with lesbian or gay parents is compromised in any significant respect relative to that among children of heterosexual parents in otherwise comparable circumstances."
  
  
• "In 1995 the American Psychological Association published an annotated bibliography reviewing 25 years of research on gay and lesbian parented families that overwhelmingly refuted concerns that parents’ sexual object choice alone presents a threat to children or an impediment to their development." ... "Results of these studies contribute to the growing understanding that the sexual orientation of the parent does not pose a threat to children’s emotional well-being."
  
  
• "The author's study found that adult-aged daughters of lesbian mothers did not significantly differ from adult daughters of heterosexual mothers on gender identity, gender role, sexual orientation, and social adjustment."
  
  
• "Research findings suggest that unless and until the weight of evidence can be shown to have shifted, parental sexual orientation should be considered irrelevant to disputes involving child custody, visitation, foster care, and adoption."
  
  
• "The results demonstrate no differences on any measures between the heterosexual and homosexual parents regarding parenting styles, emotional adjustment, and sexual orientation of the child(ren). In other words, the data fail to support the continuation of a bias against homosexual parents by any court."
  
  
• "The body of literature generally concludes that children with lesbian and gay parents are developing psychologically, intellectually, behaviorally, and emotionally in positive directions, and that the sexual orientation of parents is not an effective or important predictor of successful child development."