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NEW False: The Claim That 6-14 Million Children Are Reared In Homosexual Households
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Homosexual Urban Legend: False: The Claim That 6-14 Million Children Are Reared In Homosexual Households
One of the most persistent homosexual urban legends is the false claim that from 6 to 14 million children in the U.S. are being reared in homosexual households.
This statistical falsehood apparently has its origins in the writings of Charlotte Patterson, a homosexual activist and professor at the University of Virginia who conducts “research” on the positive results of lesbian parenting. To no one’s surprise, Patterson’s “research” tends to discover what she wants to discover: that there’s no significant difference between children in homosexual homes than in heterosexual homes.
Patterson has been writing about homosexual parenting since the early 1990s and is the author of an online article for the American Psychological Association on “Lesbian and Gay Parenting.”
Patterson’s questionable research has been quoted widely and was used by the American Psychological Association in its friend of the court brief filed in New York state to have homosexual marriage legalized. The APA lost its bid to have homosexual marriage legalized, but it has filed dozens of friend of the court briefs throughout the U.S. to have same-sex marriage legalized, sodomy laws overturned, and adoption of children by homosexuals legalized.
The claim that 6-14 million children are reared in homosexual households is false.
This fraudulent figure was cited by Patterson in her 1992 paper, “Children of Lesbian and Gay Parents,” published in Child Development (63, pgs 1025-1042). In this paper, she says, “Estimates of the numbers of gay or lesbian parents range from 6 million to 14 million.” Since then, this statistic has been repeated over and over again in other publications and legal briefs to justify the legalization of homosexual adoption and same-sex marriages.
In a footnote in her paper, Patterson says that this estimate comes from extrapolations that assumed that 10% of the 250 million Americans at the time were homosexual. This 250 million included 60 million children (who should have been excluded from the estimate). She had apparently picked up this 6-14 million figure from a USA Today article from 1984 and attempted to justify it. Her footnote also cites statistics from 1973 and 1978 that assume that 10% of male homosexuals and 20% of female homosexuals are rearing two children each. There is no reliable proof that these statements are true.
If these statistics were even remotely accurate, this would have meant that in 1992, one out of 10 or one out of every 5 children in America was being reared in a homosexual household. This is an absurd possibility.
In the first place, the 10% are homosexual figure has been proven to be a falsehood promoted by homosexual activists. The numbers of homosexuals is actually between 2-3 percent in the U.S. (See our Homosexual Urban Legend on the 10% myth.)
Patterson’s phony statistics are still being promoted as fact in such books as The Gay Baby Boom: The Psychology Of Gay Parenthood by lesbian activists Suzanne M. Johnson and Elizabeth O’Connor.
In fact, the authors quote Patterson’s fraudulent statistic on the first page of the book. A pediatrician (who wishes to remain anonymous) who reviewed this book on Amazon.com pointed out the facts about Patterson’s phony figures. In a review published on July 13, 2003, he wrote:
OK except for the Big Lie on page one and the Title., July 13, 2003
Reviewer:
Psychologists Susanne Johnson and Elizabeth O'Connor, a lesbian couple with parenting experience, provide an easy-to-read, supportive book to promote good parenting by those gays and lesbians who find themselves to be parents or who wish to be parents.
The book's major drawback is that page one states, "Estimates are that between six and 14 million children in the United States are being raised by at least one parent who is gay or lesbian." The US 2000 Census shows only 72 million children (i.e., under age 18) in the United States. What knowledgeable person with integrity could support, believe, or report that 14 million US kids, one of every five US kids, are being raised by a gay or lesbian? The more I sought support for the statement, the more I came to realize that it was absurd and unsupportable and that even an estimate of 3 million was unreasonably high. Cutting the numbers by 90% to a range of 600,000 to 1.4 million is not unreasonable. The cut would be consistent with the 2000 US Census and the authors' "largest ever" study of gay parenting that consisted of 256 G/L families of which over 200 were same-sex couples including 172 lesbian couples. It would be consistent with the authors' finding of no prior studies of children raised by gay fathers because, per the authors, such households are relatively rare.
A 2003 Census report shows just under 170,000 "same-sex couples with personal relationships" raising kids when the US averages 2 kids per married household, slightly less for unmarried households. There are reasons to believe the count is overstated or understated. In line with Census staff cautions, many of the 170,000 may be heterosexual couples due to a very small percentage of the millions of heterosexual married couples completing the forms improperly or a small percent being misread by the Census optical scanners. A report that read "married" and same sex was treated by the Census as an unmarried same-sex couple. Despite overwhelming media support today for G/L couples and pre-census efforts by GLT support groups to encourage G/L couples to report themselves as same-sex couples in the confidential census, there are anecdotal reports of G/L couples failing to do so.
All things considered, and allowing for G/L parents not coupled or in the closet in a heterosexual marriage, I just can't reasonably justify an estimate of 3 million or more. The 6 to 14 range is so absurd that foisting it on the public is unethical and akin to Enron cooking its books. The range certainly damages the credibility of the book. Outrageous lies will not foster respect for the gay and lesbian community and may promote homophobia or at least "Hexophobia" which is the fear of homosexual "experts" deliberately lying to portray the gay/lesbian market and voting block to be bigger than they really are.
The book does not cite a source for the statement, but a similar statement is found in a 1996 published paper, co-authored by psychologist, lesbian, and G/L parenting advocate Charlotte Patterson. The book, p. 49, calls Dr. Patterson "the leading authority in gay and lesbian parenting." The 1996 Patterson paper incorrectly cites as the estimates' source "Editors of the Harvard Law Review (1990)" which I did not find to mention or support a 14 million estimate and only weakly supporting a six million estimate by referring to a BNA report of an earlier ABA annual meeting in San Francisco. The source for 14 million appears to be an April 1984 issue of USA Today - hardly authoritative to be cited in a professional journal. (I could not confirm the source, as the major local library had the issue in a jammed, unopenable filing cabinet. Sorry.) A 1992 Patterson paper, which cited the USA Today 1984 issue, attempted to mathematically support six million by using the now-discredited Kinsey 10% and by overstating (inadvertently I hope) the US adult population by some 60 million. But at least she tried. As a rule, the professional papers, books, and media reports over the past ten years just keep giving the quote or a "one to nine" million range with no real mathematical support.
There may be today a Gay Baby Boom but to see it we first have to acknowledge that the numbers of gay and lesbians parenting kids five and ten years ago were rather small to begin with and is still rather small for the US. But it beats Canada where the number of G/L couples with kids under age 18 is reported by the 2001 Canadian Census to be just under 3,000 in all of Canada.
Regardless, if you are going to be a parent, be a good one no matter what. When life is tough, be tougher, kinder, and gentler.”
More Problems With Charlotte Patterson’s “Research”
Charlotte Patterson’s research has also been called into question for a number of other reasons. Dr. Gerald Schoenewolf, a member of the National Association for Research of Therapy’s Scientific Advisory Committee, has dug into Patterson’s questionable research methods. In an article posted on the NARTH web site, Dr. Schoenewolf notes:
Typically, Patterson's study of children of lesbian parents are based on interviews with the children in which they are asked questions about their social adjustment, their sexual orientation, and their mood (happiness); these interviews are also conducted with children of heterosexual parents and then compared. In other studies, projective testing is used (such as the Rorshach Inkblot Test). For example, one study involved two groups of 44 children, aged 12 to 18 (children of lesbians and children of heterosexuals). Both groups were said to have similar ethnic backgrounds, family income and parent educational level. The conclusions: no difference in perceived well-being, social adjustment, or sexual orientation (percentage of homosexuality) among these youth.
Sampling Flaws And Researcher Bias
There are several problems with this kind of research. No study of 44 children is representative of the population at large. No matter how well the sampling is done, it can't be representative. According to the National Adoption Clearing House, there are about 6 to 14 million children living with a gay or lesbian parent. How can 44 children be representative of 6 to 14 million children?
(At the time Dr. Schoenewolf wrote this article, he was unknowingly using Patterson’s bogus statistics that had been picked up and used uncritically by the National Adoption Clearing House. His article has since been amended to include new information on the 6-14 million urban legend.)
NARTH Scientific Advisory Committee member Dr. A. Dean Byrd has also pointed out serious credibility questions about Patterson’s alleged research of homosexual families and their children.
Writing in “When Activism Masquerades as Science: Potential Consequences of Recent APA Resolutions,” Dr. Byrd notes that an American Psychological Association committee used Patterson’s research to promote homosexual marriage, but a Florida court found serious flaws in her materials. He writes:
Of particular concern was the Committee's reliance on the research of Charlotte Patterson whose studies were questioned and subsequently excluded from a Florida Court. The Court concluded:
“Dr. Patterson's impartiality also came into question when prior to trial, she refused to turn over to her own attorneys copies of documentation utilized by her in studies. This court ordered her to do so (both sides having stipulated to the Order), yet she unilaterally refused despite the continued efforts on the part of her attorneys to have her do so. Both sides stipulated that Dr. Patterson's conduct was a clear violation of this Court's order. Her attorneys requested that sanctions be limited to the exclusion of her personal studies at trial and this Court agreed to do so.
“Dr. Patterson testified as to her own lesbian status and the Respondent maintained that her research was possibly tainted by her alleged use of friends as subjects for her research. This potential was given more credence than it should have been by virtue of her unwillingness to provide the Respondent as well as the Petitioner, with the documents ordered to be produced" (1997, JUNE AMER, Petitioner v Floyd P. Johnson, p. 11).
Charlotte Patterson’s “research” is simply pro-homosexual propaganda disguised as science. Her research methods are shoddy and unreliable, yet her work is repeatedly reprinted by the American Psychological Association, homosexual activist organizations, and in friend of the court briefs that are used to justify homosexual marriage and homosexual adoption of children.
For reliable analyses of Patterson’s questionable research and other homosexual activists who are attempting to use “studies” to promote the homosexual agenda, and for information on the significant differences between children in homosexual versus heterosexual homes, download and distribute the following documents:
When Activism Masquerades as Science: Potential Consequences of Recent APA Resolutions
When Propaganda Is Disguised As Research: The Case of Charlotte J. Patterson
Review Of Research On Homosexual Parenting, Adoption, And Foster Parenting
Gender Complementarity and Child-rearing: Where Tradition and Science Agree
"Destructive Trends in Mental Health: The Well-Intentioned Path to Harm"
No Basis: What the Studies Don’t Tell Us About Same-Sex Parenting
Dr. Jeffrey Satinover Testifies Before Massachusetts Senate Committee Studying Gay Marriage
