LA: Researcher who would like parents of gay and

 I am conducting a research study and would like to ask you to
participate by sharing the attached invitational letter with your
chapter members.

The purpose of this study is to explore parental concerns about having
gay and lesbian children and determine what factors influence these
concerns.I am a licensed professional counselor in the state of Georgia
pursuing a doctoral degree in Counselor Education at the University of
New Orleans.

The survey will likely take about 15 minutes to complete. Surveys are
available online using the link below. If individuals would prefer to
complete a paper version of this survey, please encourage them to notify
me via email and I will mail them a survey with a stamped self-addressed
envelope for them to return the survey, upon completion. Respondents’
identifying information will not be collected in this study and will not
be disclosed in the findings.Participating in this study is thought to
be of minimal risk. However, respondents may experience uncomfortable
thoughts and feelings related to their concerns about having a gay son
or lesbian daughter and/or their feelings about close relationships.

Possible benefits of this study include gaining self-understanding,
allowing others to understand the factors that influence parents’
growth, and helping others to learn about parents’ experiences related
to their children’s disclosure of being gay or lesbian.Study results
could be used to inform counseling interventions for individual parents
or families.

Participation is completely voluntary. Respondents may decline to
participate at any time during the study and may decline to answer
particular questions if they do not feel comfortable.

I appreciate your assistance with this research study.  If you could
kindly notify me regarding your willingness to share this invitation
with your chapter members, that would be greatly appreciated.

Please direct any questions or concerns about this study to the
co-investigator, Dee Desnoyers (ddesnoye@uno.edu) the
principal-investigator and faculty advisor, Dr. Barbara Herlihy
(bherlihy@uno.edu), or the Office of Human Subjects Research at
the University of New Orleans (unoirb@uno.edu).

Sincerely,

Dee Desnoyers, M.Ed., LPC
Doctoral Candidate, University of New Orleans
Bicentennial Education Building, Room 348
200 Lakeshore Drive
New Orleans, LA 70148

Survey link: http://tinyurl.com/PFLAG-study

STUDY: Kids Are Impacted By Their Parents’ Relationship, Not Their Sexual Orientation

University of Massachusetts Amherst (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Zack Ford | Think Progress | July 16, 2013

A second study in as many weeks has found that adopted children are not impacted by the sexual orientation of their parents. Instead, what matters is how well parents support each other and how satisfied they are with the division of childcare labor.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and University of Virginia, compared gay couples, lesbian couples, and heterosexual couples who had all adopted a child within the first few weeks of life after they’d been parenting for three years. It did observe differences in terms of how the couples divided labor: heterosexual couples assumed more traditional divisions of labor, with mothers doing more parenting work than fathers, while same-sex couples were more likely to equally share childcare tasks. This distinction, however, did not have any impact on children’s behavioral problems.

According to researcher Rachel Farr, it’s harmony that matters:

FARR: While actual divisions of childcare tasks such as feeding, dressing and taking time to play with kids were unrelated to children’s adjustment, it was the parents who were most satisfied with their arrangements with each other who had children with fewer behavior problems, such as acting out or showing aggressive behavior. It appears that while children are not affected by how parents divide childcare tasks, it definitely does matter how harmonious the parents’ relationships are with each other.

When there was greater pleasure and engagement between parents, children behaved better for all three family structures.

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Is homosexuality a ‘handicap?’

Robert Watson | LGBTQNation | June 5, 2013

My mother just turned 86, and my father turned 88. I am now parenting my parents in many ways. This past week, I was working at my parents’ house to move them closer to me so I can care for them on a more consistent basis.

I love my folks very much. I have noticed for many people, myself included, we have one parent that we tend to put on a pedestal and one who seems to know each and every one of our hot buttons, how to find them, and how to do a regular happy dance on them.

My dad is my pedestal guy. We can have a knock-down, drag-out fight, and an hour later, all is forgiven and flowers seem to spring from his every step. My mother, on the other hand, can catch me with the wrong turn-of-phrase and I will see red for days.

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Wisconsin Town Plans To Fine And Ticket Parents Of Children Who Bully Others: Report

Huffington Post | June 3, 2013

As part of an effort to crack down on “harassment and emotional abuse among young people,” a Wisconsin town will reportedly ticket and fine parents whose children repeatedly bully others.

As The Wisconsin State Journal reports, the “parent-liability” approach is part of an overall ordinance passed last month by the Monona City Council and may break fresh ground in the nationwide effort to reduce schoolyard bullying among children and teens.

Parents will reportedly be fined $114 within 90 days following a written notice about their child’s bullying; the fine will increase to $177 for each repeated instance of bullying within a year of the first violation.

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US: Louisiana bill would block gay couples from surrogate parenting

Joseph Patrick McCormick | PinkNews.co.uk | May 29, 2013

A bill introduced in the Senate, in the US state of Louisiana will block gay, and unmarried couples from being able to become parents by using surrogates, by requiring that all parents using such a process, are married.

Senate Bill 162, which is sponsored by Democrat Gary Smith, intends to set up provisions blocking gay and unmarried couples from becoming parent using a surrogate, is to head to a conference committee, where it will come under further scrutiny by six lawmakers.

Supporters of the bill have argued that the state lacks laws giving clear guidelines on the governing of such births, and have asserted that current gaps in guidelines could lead to legal problems for surrogate mothers, their spouses, and the intended parents of a child.

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Gay Marriage And Children: The Worst States For Kids Of Same-Sex Parents

Katy Hall & Chris Spurlock | Huffington Post | March 29, 2013

Justice Anthony Kennedy invoked the children of gay parents this week during the Supreme Court hearing on Proposition 8, California’s gay marriage ban.

“They want their parents to have full recognition and legal status,” he said. “The voice of those children is considerable in this case, don’t you think?”

There are millions of children in the U.S. being raised by same-sex couples, and many of them live in states that don’t recognize their parents’ relationship or make it difficult for both parents to claim legal ties to the child. Discriminatory laws cause these children “immediate legal injury,” Kennedy said.

In states where same-sex relationships are not legally recognized, children who are born to or adopted by one parent must be adopted by the other in order to have two legal parents. Only 13 states and Washington, D.C., allow same-sex parents to petition for “second-parent adoption” statewide, while the availability of the practice is uncertain in most states and filled with legal obstacles in others, according to the Family Equality Council. When same-sex couples use donor insemination to have a child, most states do not give the non-biological parent legal ties to the child. All of these barriers can cause children “legal injury” — including but not limited to instances when both parents can’t make medical decisions, provide health benefits, claim custody or be obligated to pay child support.

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COMMENTARY: Disowning of gay children is the abomination

Barb Hamp Weicksel | San Diego Gay & Lesbian News | February 19, 2013

I’ve been reading about these Christian parents who believe they have somehow failed as a parent because their child is gay. These are inevitably the parents who have disowned their child for being gay.

Christian parents who disown their children do so because they are told that homosexuality is an abomination, and Scripture does permit parents to have a wayward son put to death by stoning and for simply being a drunkard or immoral. (Deuteronomy 21: 18-21).  This whole stoning thing isn’t allowed in the 21st century, at least in the western world, so the parents disown the child.

I say we review what their Bible says are abominations.

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Israeli girl wins court pay-out after mum’s lesbian partner dies in fire

Dan Littauer | Gay Star News | February 14, 2013

A court appeals committee set a legal precedent, instructing Israel’s defense ministry to  compensate a three year-old girl who lost her mother’s female partner.The court decision recognized yesterday (13 February) the late Faviola Bohadana, as the girl’s step-parent, overruling a refusal by Israel’s defines ministry.

The girl’s biological mother, Rahel Algavassi, has been in a lesbian relationship with Bohadana for five years prior to her death during a large scale fire incident in December 2010.

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