This long list of quotes from various organizations will hopefully put everyone's mind at ease and show them that children raised by same-sex couples will turn out just fine. In fact, children of lesbian couples "have been described as more tolerant of diversity and more nurturing toward younger children than children whose parents are heterosexual."

AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

"The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States and is the world’s largest association of psychologists. APA’s membership includes more than 152,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. "

“As the world’s largest organization of psychologists, we felt it was important to make a statement here and now to demonstrate APA’s unwavering support of marriage equality.”

"Research has shown that marriage provides substantial psychological and physical health benefits due to the moral, economic and social support extended to married couples. Conversely, recent empirical evidence has illustrated the harmful psychological effect of policies restricting marriage rights for same-sex couples. Additionally, children raised by same-sex couples have been shown to be on par with the children of opposite-sex couples in their psychological adjustment, cognitive abilities and social functioning.

APA has been a strong advocate for full equal rights for LGBT people for nearly 35 years, based on the social science research on sexual orientation. "

http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2010/08/support-same-sex-marriage.aspx

CANADIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

"CPA’s review of the psychological research led us to conclude that the children of same-sex parents do not differ from the children of heterosexual parents in terms of their psychosocial development, their gender development and their gender identity. In 2005, the CPA voiced its support to the House of Commons of Bill C-38, legislation legalizing marriage of same-sex couples."

http://www.cpa.ca/cpasite/userfiles/Documents/Marriage%20of%20Same-Sex%20Couples%20Position%20Statement%20- %20October%202006%20(1).pdf .pdf)

NOTE: Create Debate won't post that link correctly so just copy and paste the part in blue into your address bar to view it.

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS

"few differences have been found in research conducted over the last 3 decades comparing lesbian and heterosexual mothers' self-esteem, psychological adjustment, and attitudes toward child rearing. Lesbian mothers fall within the range of normal psychological functioning on interviews and psychological assessments, and report scores on standardized measures of self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and parenting stress indistinguishable from those reported by heterosexual mothers. "

"Empirical evidence reveals that gay fathers have substantial evidence of nurturance and investment in their paternal role and no differences from heterosexual fathers in providing appropriate recreation or encouraging autonomy. Gay fathers have been described to adhere to strict disciplinary guidelines, to place an emphasis on guidance and the development of cognitive skills, and to be involved in their children's activities. "

"Children born to and raised by lesbian couples seem to develop in ways that are indistinguishable from children raised by heterosexual parents. Ratings by their mothers and teachers have demonstrated children's social competence and the prevalence of behavioral difficulties to be comparable with population norms. In fact, growing up with parents who are lesbian or gay may confer some advantages to children. They have been described as more tolerant of diversity and more nurturing toward younger children than children whose parents are heterosexual. "

"In one study, children of heterosexual parents saw themselves as being somewhat more aggressive than did children of lesbian parents, and they were seen by parents and teachers as more bossy, negative, and domineering. Children of lesbian parents saw themselves as more lovable and were seen by parents and teachers as more affectionate, responsive, and protective of younger children, compared with children of heterosexual parents."

"Recent publications from 2 population-based samples lend additional strength to earlier evidence demonstrating that children's well-being is not threatened as a result of growing up with lesbian parents. The importance of these studies is that the research was planned and conducted by people who had no particular interest or investment in research regarding same-gender parents. In both cases the investigations regarding lesbian parents and their children were posthoc analyses; thus, neither the sample nor the methods were influenced by a bias in support of gay parents."

"The gender identity of preadolescent children raised by lesbian mothers has been found consistently to be in line with their biological gender. None of >500 children studied have shown evidence of gender-identity confusion, wished to be the other gender, or consistently engaged in cross-gender behavior. No differences have been found in the toy, game, activity, dress, or friendship preferences of boys or girls who had lesbian mothers, compared with those who had heterosexual mothers."

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/118/1/349.full

CHILD WELFARE LEAGUE OF AMERICA

"The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) affirms that lesbian, gay, and bisexual parents are as well suited to raise children as their heterosexual counterparts."

"Based on more than three decades of social science research and our 85 years of service to millions of families, CWLA believes that families with LGBTQ members deserve the same levels of support afforded other families. Any attempt to preclude or prevent gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals or couples from parenting, based solely on their sexual orientation, is not in the best interest of children. CWLA, therefore, affirms that gay, lesbian, and bisexual parents are as well suited to raise children as their heterosexual counterparts. "

https://www.cwla.org/programs/culture/glbtqposition.htm

THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY

"There is no evidence to suggest or support that parents who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender are per se superior or inferior from or deficient in parenting skills, child-centered concerns, and parent-child attachments when compared with heterosexual parents. There is no credible evidence that shows that a parent's sexual orientation or gender identity will adversely affect the development of the child.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender individuals historically have faced more rigorous scrutiny than heterosexual people regarding their rights to be or become parents. The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry opposes any discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity against individuals in regard to their rights as custodial, foster, or adoptive parents."

http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/policystatements/gaylesbiantransgenderandbisexualparentspolicystatement

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY

"Most research studies show that children with two moms or two dads fare just as well as children with heterosexual parents. In fact, one comprehensive study of children raised by lesbian mothers or gay fathers concluded that children raised by same-sex parents did not differ from other children in terms of emotional functioning, sexual orientation, stigmatization, gender role behavior, behavioral adjustment, gender identity, learning and grade point averages. Where research differences have been found, they have sometimes favored same-sex parents. For example, adolescents with same-sex parents reported feeling more connected at school. Another study reported that children in gay and lesbian households are more likely to talk about emotionally difficult topics, and they are often more resilient, compassionate and tolerant."

THE AMERICAN PSYCHOANALYTIC ASSOCIATION

"Over the past 20 years an increasing number of same-sex couples are conceiving, adopting and raising children. According to the 2000 U.S. Census 34% of cohabitating female couples and 22% of male couples were raising children under the age of 18. The absence of the legal recognition of their parents' relationship will also impact these children. Children of same-sex couples are accorded a stigmatized status of being "illegitimate". To the extent that legal marriage fosters well-being in couples, it will enhance the well-being in their children who benefit most when their parents are financially secure, physically and psychologically healthy and not subjected to high levels of stress (Chan, et al, 1998; Patterson, 2001). Children of gay and lesbian couples are especially vulnerable if their parent's relationship dissolves (Amato, 2001). Both parents of same-sex couples do not automatically have legal custody and, therefore, custody issues are more complicated, and the children lack the same level of legal protections afforded to children of married couples."

http://www.apsa.org/AboutAPsaA/PositionStatements/GayMarriage.aspx

NORTH AMERICAN COUNCIL ON ADOPTABLE CHILDREN

"Children should not be denied a permanent family because of the sexual orientation of potential parents. All prospective foster and adoptive parents, regardless of sexual orientation, should be given fair and equal consideration. NACAC opposes rules and legislation that restrict the consideration of current or prospective foster and adoptive parents based on their sexual orientation."

http://www.nacac.org/policy/lgbtq.html

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS

"The National Board of Directors of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) reaffirms the Association's support for same-sex marriages, and strongly opposes any attempt to pass federal legislation or amend the United States Constitution to discriminate against same-sex couples or prohibit governmental recognition of these relationships."

"NASW encourages the adoption of laws that recognize inheritance, insurance, same-sex marriage, child custody, property, and other rights in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender relationships. The Association firmly believes that all federal protections and responsibilities available to legally married people in the United States should be available to people who enter same sex unions (including domestic partnerships, civil unions, and same sex marriages)."

"Sexual orientation conversion therapies assume that homosexual orientation is both pathological and freely chosen. No data demonstrate that reparative or conversion therapies are effective, and in fact they may be harmful."

http://www.naswdc.org/diversity/lgb/062804.asp

THE AMERICAN PSYCHIATRY ASSOCIATION

"Numerous studies have shown that the children of gay parents are as likely to be healthy and well adjusted as children raised in heterosexual households. Children raised in gay or lesbian households do not show any greater incidence of homosexuality or gender identity issues than other children. Children raised in nontraditional homes with gay/lesbian parents can encounter some special challenges related to the ongoing stigma against homosexuality, but most children surmount these problems."

http://www.psychiatry.org/lgbt-sexual-orientation

THE AUSTRAILIAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

"The research indicates that parenting practices and children’s outcomes in families parented by lesbian and gay parents are likely to be at least as favourable as those in families of heterosexual parents, despite the reality that considerable legal discrimination and inequity remain significant challenges for these families."

"Findings from studies that specifically compare children both from lesbian-parented and heterosexual-parented families, and children from one and two parent families, provide further weight to the conclusion that it is process rather than structure that is key to positive outcomes."

"Researchers did find a difference in how connected the children felt to people at school, whereby children with same-sex parents showed a greater connection. "

"it is not surprising, and is in keeping with the conclusion that it is family processes rather than family structures per se that are important to children’s outcomes and well-being, that research increasingly indicates some positive benefits for children conceived via surrogacy or assisted reproduction, and for those in families with same-sex parents. For example, in the large European Longitudinal Family Study, which compared parenting and children’s outcomes in families in which the children had been conventionally conceived, conceived with donated sperm, conceived with IVF but not donated gametes, and adopted in infancy, several advantages have been found in terms of quality of parenting, family relationships, and behavioural outcomes for the children who have been conceived other than by conventional conception, and particularly, for those who have been conceived with donated gametes "

"Some new research suggests that lesbian and gay families are in some respects better for children than heterosexual families... Research on the division of parenting and household labour among lesbian co-parents and gay-co-parents has shown a distinct pattern of equality and sharing compared to heterosexual parents, with corresponding positive well-being for the partner’s relationship with each other, and the child’s adjustment. (Millbank, 2003, pp. 546-547)

What differences have emerged, however, suggest that gay and lesbian parents tend to be more responsive to their children, more child oriented, and more egalitarian in their sharing of the workload, characteristics associated with a more positive child outcome. (Johnson & O’Connor,

2002, p. 67)"

"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. (Stacey, in Cooper & Cates, 2006, p. 34"

http://www.psychology.org.au/Assets/Files/LGBT-Families-Lit-Review.pdf

THE CALIFORNIA PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION

"There is significant research demonstrating that same-sex couples are similar to heterosexual couples in essential ways and that they are as likely as opposite-sex couples to raise mentally healthy, well-adjusted children."

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - DEPT. OF PSYCHOLOGY

"The data indicate that same-sex and heterosexual relationships do not differ in their essential psychosocial dimensions; that a parent’s sexual orientation is unrelated to her or his ability to provide a healthy and nurturing family environment; and that marriage bestows substantial psychological, social, and health benefits. It is concluded that same-sex couples and their children are likely to benefit in numerous ways from legal recognition of their families, and providing such recognition through marriage will bestow greater benefit than civil unions or domestic partnerships. "

OTHERS

These are just a small fraction of the other organizations that support same-sex marriage and think that the children of same-sex couples end up just fine.

-The American Academy of Family Physicians

-The American Medical Association

-The American College of Nursing

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". These organizations include the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychoanalytic Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the Child Welfare League of America, the North American Council on Adoptable Children, and Canadian Psychological Association. 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."

MORE INFO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_parenting

I would say overall More Beneficial.

My reasoning is as follows:

I assume that, all else being equal, there is little or no difference between wanted children being raised by a loving family regardless of the sexes of the parents; this matches up well with my observations.

So why do I say more beneficial, rather than saying that it's the same? Because of unwanted children. Unwanted children are EXTREMELY rare in same sex marriages, for obvious reasons. As such, a randomly selected child raised by a same sex couple is significantly more likely to be raised in an environment wherein he or she is wanted and loved, compared to a randomly selected child raised by a heterosexual couple.

For all of the criticisms against same sex marriages, at the very least they WANT their kids.

Same-Sex parents will love their adopted children and this factor alone is all that matters.