Pediatrics association: children raised by homosexuals just as healthy as those raised in traditional families
"Children who grow up with one or two gay and/or lesbian parents fare as well in emotional, cognitive, social, and sexual functioning as do children whose parents are heterosexual," says a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The nation's largest pediatric group is therefore calling for states to allow homosexuals to adopt their partner's children. "When two adults participate in parenting a child, they and the child deserve the serenity that comes with legal recognition," the organization says in the February issue of Pediatrics. USA Today says the report comes at an important time: "A 'gayby boom' is taking place as growing numbers of gays adopt or have their own biological children using donor sperm or female surrogates." The pediatrics association says between 1 million and 9 million children have at least one parent who is homosexual.

Conservative Christians are questioning both the organization's stance and its data. The spokesman making the most press appearances today is Ken Connor of the Family Research Council. He tells The New York Times he finds it "regrettable that the academy has succumbed to political correctness and has abandoned substantive research." "This is part of a campaign to normalize homosexual relationships and accord them a status equivalent to marriage," he says in the Chicago Tribune. "Children should not be pawns in a political shell game." Focus on the Family similarly criticized the AAP's recommendation.

David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values, ties the controversy to another problem facing families. "Children do best when they grow up with a mother ...