questo è uno dei motivi per cui le varie unioni alternative mi hanno suscitato sempre forti dubbi...il fatto che un bambino debba avere un padre e una madre è una cosa che rpesso qualsiasi ssocietà umana è sempre esistita.Ma capisco che i motivi economici e ottusamente ideologici di queste persone vengano prima della natura 
ecco qui che bei progetti: specialmente nella frase centrale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_parentingLGBT parenting
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LGBT parenting refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people parenting one or more children. This includes children raised by same-sex couples (same-sex parenting), children raised by single LGBT parents, and children raised by an opposite-sex couple where at least one partner is LGBT.[1]
Gay men may become parents in a variety of ways, including "foster care, variations of domestic and international adoption, diverse forms of surrogacy (whether 'traditional' or gestational), and kinship arrangements, wherein they might coparent with a woman or women with whom they are intimately but not sexually involved."[2]
In the 2000 U.S. Census, 33 percent of female same-sex couple households and 22 percent of male same-sex couple households reported at least one child under eighteen living in their home.[3] Some children do not know they have an LGBT parent; coming out issues vary and some parents may never reveal to their children that they identify as LGBT.[4][5]
Scientific research has been consistent in showing that lesbian and gay parents are as fit and capable as heterosexual parents, and their children are as psychologically healthy and well-adjusted as children reared by heterosexual parents.[6][7][8] Major associations of mental health professionals in the U.S., Canada, and Australia have not identified credible empirical research that suggests otherwise.[9][10][11][8][12] The methodologies used in the major studies of same-sex parenting meet the standards for research in the field of developmental psychology and psychology generally.[13] The American Psychological Association reports that some studies suggest parenting skills of gays and lesbians might be "superior." [14] Biblarz and Stacey state that while research has found that families headed by (at least) two parents are generally best for children, outcomes of more than two parents (as in some cooperative stepfamilies, intergenerational families, and coparenting alliances among lesbians and gay men) have not yet been studied.[11]
Many LGBT people are parents through various means including current or former relationships, coparenting, adoption, donor insemination, and surrogacy; LGBT people are eligible to act as foster caregivers in some countries (such as the UK). A lesbian or gay man may have children within a mixed-orientation marriage for various reasons. [15] [16] [17][18][19][20][21] Also, some children do not know they have an LGBT parent.[4][5]
Many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people are parents. In the 2000 U.S. Census, for example, 33 percent of female same-sex couple households and 22 percent of male same-sex couple households reported at least one child under the age of 18 living in the home.[3] As of 2005, an estimated 270,313 children in the United States live in households headed by same-sex couples.[22]
Since the 1970s, it has become increasingly clear that it is family processes (such as the quality of parenting, the psychosocial well-being of parents, the quality of and satisfaction with relationships within the family, and the level of co-operation and harmony between parents) that contribute to determining children’s well-being and ‘outcomes’, rather than family structures, per se, such as the number, gender, sexuality and co-habitation status of parents.[7][13]
The scientific research that has directly compared outcomes for children with gay and lesbian parents with outcomes for children with heterosexual parents has been remarkably consistent in showing that lesbian and gay parents are as fit and capable as heterosexual parents, and their children are as psychologically healthy and well-adjusted as children reared by heterosexual parents,[6][7][8] despite the reality that considerable legal discrimination and inequity remain significant challenges for these families.[7] Major associations of mental health professionals in the U.S., Canada, and Australia, have not identified credible empirical research that suggests otherwise.[9][10][11][8][12] Literature indicates that parents’ financial, psychological and physical well-being is enhanced by marriage and that children benefit from being raised by two parents within a legally-recognized union.[8][13][23][9]
Professor Judith Stacey, of New York University, stated: “Rarely is there as much consensus in any area of social science as in the case of gay parenting, which is why the American Academy of Pediatrics and all of the major professional organizations with expertise in child welfare have issued reports and resolutions in support of gay and lesbian parental rights”.[24] These organizations include the American Academy of Pediatrics,[9] the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,[1] the American Psychiatric Association,[25] the American Psychological Association,[26] the American Psychoanalytic Association,[27] the National Association of Social Workers,[28] the Child Welfare League of America,[29] the North American Council on Adoptable Children,[30] and Canadian Psychological Association.[31]
[edit] School outcomes
Until 2010, research on school outcomes for the children of same-sex couples was limited to studies on small samples studies, and meta-analyses thereof. The first large sample study based on US nationally representative data confirmed that "children raised by same-sex couples have no fundamental deficits in making normal progress through school."[32]
[edit] Behavior of children
Children raised by same-sex parents are not more likely identify as homosexual themselves.[13][33] According to Stacey and Biblarz more research is needed into the area of sexuality:
We know very little yet about how parents influence the development of their children's sexual identities or how these intersect with gender... We need comparable data for children reared by single heterosexual mothers or exclusively by men to distinguish the impact of gender from sexual identity here[11]
Stacey and Biblarz have found that children raised by same-sex couples are more likely to depart from traditional gender roles. For example, male children are found to be less aggressive and more nurturing, while female children are more likely to aspire to become doctors, lawyers and engineers. In two studies, a greater number of young adult children raised by lesbians had also participated in or considered a same-sex relationship or had an attraction to the same sex. These studies did not find that the children were any more likely to identify as homosexual. Stacey is careful to note that "a difference is not necessarily a deficit."[34]
[edit] Maturity of research
In 2006, Gregory M. Herek stated in American Psychologist: "If gay, lesbian, or bisexual parents were inherently less capable than otherwise comparable heterosexual parents, their children would evidence problems regardless of the type of sample. This pattern clearly has not been observed. Given the consistent failures in this research literature to disprove the null hypothesis, the burden of empirical proof is on those who argue that the children of sexual minority parents fare worse than the children of heterosexual parents."[10]
In 2009, Michael Lamb stated: "The methodologies used in the major studies of same-sex parenting meet the standards for research in the field of developmental psychology and psychology generally. The studies specific to same-sex parenting were published in leading journals in the field of child and adolescent development, such as Child Development, published by the Society for Research in Child Development, Developmental Psychology, published by the American Psychological Association, and The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, the flagship peer-review journals in the field of child development. Most of the studies appeared in these (or similar) rigorously peer-reviewed and highly selective journals, whose standards represent expert consensus on generally accepted social scientific standards for research on child and adolescent development. Prior to publication in these journals, these studies were required to go through a rigorous peer-review process, and as a result, they constitute the type of research that members of the respective professions consider reliable. The body of research on same-sex families is consistent with standards in the relevant fields and produces reliable conclusions."[13]
Michael J. Rosenfeld, professor of sociology at Stanford University, wrote in 2010 that "[A] critique of the literature—that the sample sizes of the studies are too small to allow for statistically powerful tests—continues to be relevant."[32] Similar concern on the maturity of research have appeared in the mass media, for example in 2006 in LA Times,[35] and have been criticized by Herek on his blog.[36] The American Psychological Association writes that studies of gay parenting have improved in methodology and sampling, making criticisms no longer valid.[37]
In June of 2010, the results of a 25-year, ongoing study by Nanette Gartrell of the University of California were released. Gartrell studied 78 children conceived through donor insemination & raised by lesbian mothers. Mothers were interviewed and given clinical questionnaires during pregnancy, then when their children were 2, 5, 10, and 17 years of age. At age 17, the children themselves were tested, and were shown to score higher, on average, than their peers in social and academic competence, and lower in aggression and social problems. Gartrell pointed out that the study was limited to mothers who sought donor insemination & who may have been more motivated than mothers in other circumstances.[38]
[edit] Misrepresentation of research
In a 2006 statement the Canadian Psychological Association released an updated statement on their 2003 and 2005 conclusions, saying, "The CPA recognizes and appreciates that persons and institutions are entitled to their opinions and positions on this issue. However, CPA is concerned that some persons and institutions are mis-interpreting the findings of psychological research to support their positions, when their positions are more accurately based on other systems of belief or values." The association drew attention to Herek’s extensive 2006 review of relevant literature, which concluded that the research on which opponents to marriage of same-sex couples rely, look at the functioning of children in intact families with heterosexual parents compared to those children raised by a single parent following divorce or death of a spouse. They do not include studies that compare the functioning of children raised by heterosexual couples with the functioning of children raised by same-sex couples. In this group of studies, any differences observed are more accurately attributable to the effects of death or divorce, and/or to the effects of living with a single parent, rather than to parents’ sexual orientation. These studies do not tell us that the children of same-sex parents in an intact relationship fare worse than the children of opposite-sex parents in an intact relationship.[6]
According to the American Psychological Association, California Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, National Association of Social Workers and National Association of Social Workers - California Chapter, it is critically important to make appropriate comparisons when comparing the outcomes of different forms of parenting. For example, differences resulting from the number of parents in a household cannot be attributed to the parents’ gender or sexual orientation. Research in households with heterosexual parents generally finds that – all else being equal – children do better with two parenting figures rather than just one. The specific research studies cited do not address parents’ sexual orientation, however, and therefore do not permit any conclusions to be drawn about the consequences of having heterosexual versus nonheterosexual parents, or two parents who are of the same versus different genders.[39] According to the Maine Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics, "It is scientifically untenable to use studies about the effects on children of divorce or being raised in one parent households, to draw conclusions about the children raised in two parents households whether the parents are same or opposite-sex gender."[40]
Several countries allow same-sex couples to adopt children, while most jurisdictions prohibit them from doing so. Some jurisdictions limit adoption by same-sex couples to stepparent adoption, where one partner in a same-sex couple can legally adopt the children of the partner. Adoption by individual LGBT persons is also legal in some jurisdictions.
In January 2008, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that same-sex couples have the right to adopt a child.[41][42] Unmarried LGBT adults can petition to adopt a child in all US states. Granting the petition is left to the discretion of a judge.[43]
[edit] Marriage
Main articles: Same-sex marriage and Same-sex marriage and the family
LGBT adoption is often raised as an issue in debates over legalizing same-sex marriage both by proponents, who argue that LGBT parents should receive equal benefit from marriage laws, and opponents, who argue that same-sex marriage will lead to increased incidences of LGBT adoption.
[edit] Controversy
Catholic Answers, a Catholic religious group, in its 2004 report on gay marriage addressed parenting by homosexual partners via adoption or artificial insemination. It pointed to studies finding higher than average abuse rates among heterosexual stepparent families compared with families headed by biological parents.[44][45] The American Psychological Association, however, notes that an ongoing longitudinal study found that none of the lesbian mothers had abused their children. It states that fears of a heightened risk of sexual abuse by gay parents are not supported by research.[46]
NARTH and American College of Pediatricians (a religious conservative organization; not to be confused with American Academy of Pediatrics) argue that mainstream health and mental health organizations have, in many cases, taken public positions on parenting by same-sex couples that are based on their own social and political views rather than the available science.[47][48][49] The American Psychological Association, on the other hand, considers positions of NARTH unscientific,[50] and the Canadian Psychological Association has expressed concern that "some are mis-interpreting the findings of psychological research to support their positions, when their positions are more accurately based on other systems of belief or values."[6]
In a 2005 piece entitled "Gay Marriage, Same-Sex Parenting, and America's Children," William Meezan and Jonathan Rauch, two openly gay scholars who favor same-sex marriage,[51], state that “virtually no empirical evidence on how same-sex parents' marriage might affect their children.”[52]
Some critics of LGBT parenting[53][54][55] cite a research brief published by Child Trends, an organization which describes itself as “the nation’s only independent research and policy center focused exclusively on improving outcomes for children,”[56] for the proposition that an “"extensive body of research tells us that children do best when they grow up with both biological parents in a low-conflict marriage…it is not simply the presence of two parents…but the presence of two biological parents that seem to support child development." [57] Such critics[58][59] also cite a policy brief from the Center for Law and Social Policy, which states, “most researchers now agree that together these studies support the notion that, on average, children do better when raised by two married, biological parents…"[60]
Setting aside the issue of moral objections, Dr. Stephen Hicks of the University of Salford[61] questions the value of trying to establish that lesbian or gay parents are defective or suitable. He argues such positions are flawed because they are informed by ideologies that either oppose or support such families.[62] In Hicks' view, "Instead of asking whether gay parenting is bad for kids, I think we should ask how contemporary discourses of sexuality maintain the very idea that lesbian and gay families are essentially different and, indeed, deficient. But, in order to ask this, I think that we need a wider range of research into lesbian and gay parenting... More work of this sort will help us to ask more complex questions about forms of parenting that continue to offer some novel and challenging approaches to family life." [62]
Gregory M. Herek noted that "empirical research can’t reconcile disputes about core values, but it is very good at addressing questions of fact. Policy debates will be impoverished if this important source of knowledge is simply dismissed as a “he said, she said” squabble."
maschi che sono meno maschi e femmine che sono meno femmine :
Stacey and Biblarz have found that children raised by same-sex couples are more likely to depart from traditional gender roles. For example, male children are found to be less aggressive and more nurturing, while female children are more likely to aspire to become doctors, lawyers and engineers. In two studies, a greater number of young adult children raised by lesbians had also participated in or considered a same-sex relationship or had an attraction to the same sex. These studies did not find that the children were any more likely to identify as homosexual. Stacey is careful to note that "a difference is not necessarily a deficit."[34]
[edit] Maturity of research
