There’s Now Scientific Proof That Children With Same-Sex Parents Experience No Negative Impact

Chances are, a child who’s loved and looked after is bound to be happy – no matter the gender of his or her parents.

But just in case there were any doubters, you can take comfort in the fact that there’s now scientific proof, as research has confirmed that children raised by same-sex parents are just as happy as those raised by different-sex parents.

In the large-scale study, researchers looked at some 19,000 studies and articles on same-sex parenting from 1977 to 2015 to find out if the children of same-sex parents were worse off than kids from heterosexual relationships.

The research team, lead by Jimi Adams from the University of Colorado Denver looked at the educational, behavioural and psychological outcomes of children – and found there were no differences.

There was some disagreement on the outcomes of same-sex parenting in the 1980s, but by the turn of the millennium, strong consensus was that there’s zero negative social, behavioural, or educational impacts suffered by children of same-sex parents.

Ryan Light, who co-led the research, hopes that the findings will have an impact on court cases regarding gay marriage.

This isn’t the first survey to look at the happiness levels of children of gay parents, but it's thought to be the most comprehensive historical analysis of scientific attitudes on the topic.

A study of 500 children, conducted last year, concluded that children from same-sex couples are in fact happier and healthier than their peers.

Here in the UK, gay and lesbian single persons as well as same-sex couples were given the right to adopt a child after the Adoption and Children Act of 2002 (entered into force in 2005) was approved. The UK is only one of 14 countries where same-sex couples can legally adopt children.

Same-sex couples can also use surrogates to start their families and of course lesbian couples can use a sperm donor and carry the child themselves - like 'Queen of Shops' Mary Portas and her partner Melanie Rickey did. You can get more info and support on gay surrogacy here.

[Biological Babies For Same-Sex Couples Could Become A Reality – And Soon]

[UK Could Get First ‘Gay School’ – But Not Everyone’s Happy About It]