An influential group of social scientists – including many who have appeared in CT's pages – have issued a public statement defending Mark Regnerus's controversial study on same-sex parenting.

Regnerus, a sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin, published a paper in the July issue of Social Science Research that examined "how different are the adult children of parents who have same-sex relationships?" His findings, based on his New Family Structures Study, indicated that young-adult children of parents who have had same-sex relationships are more likely to experience emotional and social problems.

His Slate article published in June drew more than 450 comments and set off a chorus of criticism.

In response, a group of 18 professors – including Michael Emerson, Christian Smith, Rodney Stark, W. Bradford Wilcox, and Bradley Wright – posted a defense on the website of Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion. They argue that rather then Regnerus' study being "anti-gay," ...

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