I do not propose that children raised in a home with same-sex parents have an identical experience to those raised in a home with traditional parents. Nor do I pretend to know anything about actual parenting. However, I argue that while children raised in a non-traditional home may have a different experience from those raised in a traditional home, neither experience is necessarily superior to the other.

LGBT parenting exists in many forms. First, there is the obvious: a gay or lesbian couple raises a child, either parented biologically by a surrogate or adopted. There are also children who have been raised by a father and mother without knowing one or the other (or both) are homosexual. This type of parenting is difficult to study, as the homosexual parent is usually in the proverbial closet. Parenting by transsexuals is a new area of study due to historical lack of legal process for transsexual couples to adopt children. Many psychological journals have released statements concerning their views toward same-sex parenting due to the recent legal actions slowly legalizing gay marriage.

One such journal, released by the Austarilian Psychological Society, had this to say: “Significant, reliable social scientific evidence indicates that lesbian and gay parents are at least as fit, effective, and successful as heterosexual parents. The research also shows that children of same-sex couples are as emotionally healthy and socially adjusted and at least as educationally and socially successful as children raised by heterosexual parents. No credible social scientific evidence supports a claim to the contrary.” All the larger journals I checked made similar statements backed by volumes of professional research.

Same-sex parents in a healthy relationship are just as good at raising children as traditional parents; there’s no doubt about it. The numbers and research are there. But what about same-sex parents who aren’t in a healthy relationship? One could argue that same-sex marriages are not as stable as traditional marriages. I have a proposition concerning this.

If same-sex couples aren’t as stable in long-term relationships as their counterparts, one must ask why. Is it because they just don’t love each other? Is it because they were sentenced to damnation in a book thousands of years old and translated countless times? A book from a God who otherwise told us much more about how to love than how to discriminate?

Traditional couples often seek support from counselors, churches, other married couples, or older mentors. These types of support for traditional couples are everywhere. Support for same-sex couples raising children is slowly growing, especially with the younger generation, but the idea that same-sex couples generally have smaller support networks cannot be ignored.

Same-sex couples are ready to be parents. The research shows it. Some of their now-grown children show it. Perhaps the amount of unstable same-sex relationships doesn’t show that same-sex couples aren’t ready to be parents. Perhaps it simply shows that society is not ready for them to be parents.