Sociologist Mark Regnerus of the University of Texas at Austin testified this week in a federal case to determine whether same-sex couples can adopt and/or marry in Michigan. The bad news? He’s a thoroughly discredited researcher whose work was backed by money from religious conservatives. Or maybe that’s the good news.
Let’s face it — if someone’s going to be arguing against us in court, then wouldn’t it be better if that person is known as unreliable and unprofessional? Well, yes and no. Yes, it always helps if the opposition has been discredited. But when major media outlets incorrectly say the trial is the “first time” that “scientific studies on same-sex parenting will undergo legal scrutiny” (as I mentioned last week), it’s clear that the level of knowledge of these matters isn’t as widespread as we might like.
Thank goodness Nathaniel Frank’s piece at Slate, “The Shamelessness of Professor Mark Regnerus,” lays things out in dazzlingly clear detail. It’s a great overview of why Regnerus’ study fails to meet professional standards, the individuals and organizations that have denounced him, and the more than 100 studies that have shown no substantial disadvantages to children from having same-sex parents.
Despite Frank’s obvious knowledge of the academic studies of children with same-sex parents (he is a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Law), he insists they shouldn’t be necessary:
What’s equally maddening about the focus on how gay parents do is that none of it should matter. Research has long made clear that divorce, single parenthood, adoption, and poverty disadvantage kids. Where is the passionate advocacy for barring adoption, or parenthood by divorcés, single people, or poor people? Why are gay people the only ones subject to a litmus test to secure rights that everyone else gets by birth?
Excellent question. Go read his whole piece for its measured reasoning and scathing condemnation of Regnerus and his colleagues. I doubt the Michigan case will be the last time we hear arguments against same-sex parents — but if Regnerus is the best the opposition can muster, I am hopeful we are nearing the end.