More Heat Than Light: A Critical Assessment of the Same-Sex Parenting Literature, 1995–2013

Same-sex marriage is one of the great policy issues of our time, and part of this debate hinges on the ability of same-sex couples to parent. Most gay parenting studies conclude that children raised by gay parents perform as well, if not better, than their counterparts in heterosexual families. This conclusion, which may or may not be true, is not scientifically warranted because of various limitations: Some results are misreported; most of the literature is exploratory and made up of small qualitative samples, biased data, and other research design failures; the studies concentrate on lesbian families; and outcome measures have been limited. Although these problems prevent scientific generalizations, social scientists have treated the preliminary, nonconclusive research as authoritative. Quite naturally, those within public policy circles have adopted this unwarranted position. Regardless of what science ultimately demonstrates about same-sex family structure, it is important to safeguard the research process from political pressures: either anti-gay marriage or pro-gay rights.