Same‐Sex Parenting and Child Development: Reviewing the Contribution of Parental Gender

Biblarz and Stacey (2010) have raised many interesting points in their consideration of how the gender of parents matters. They have amassed two types of evidence pertinent to this question: comparisons of families led by same-sex couples versus heterosexual couples and comparisons of families led by single (heterosexual) mothers versus single (heterosexual) fathers. To do justice to Biblarz and Stacey's points regarding parenting by lesbians and gay men, my commentary initially focuses on whether same-sex parenting does indeed make a difference and then considers how this might be.