Demetra Drayton
Professor Mellisa Tetterton
English 1200
Final
30 April 2012
Homosexual Parents
The author of The Top Ten Reasons Gay Marriage Should be Illegal satirically lists 10 reasons why gay people should not be allowed to marry. It seems as though the author is writing about repealing Proposition 8, a law in the California constitution which states that same sex couples cannot marry. The author is sarcastic in all of the reasons gay people should not be allowed to marry. The author questions the reasons gay marriage is illegal. Number seven of the reasons in his listings is “obviously gay parents raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.” Belmont’s reasoning for this line is to persuade people that gay parents do raise straight children, just as some straight parents raise gay children. Belmont’s audience consists of those who are opposed to gay marriage. The title of his article is meant to grasp the attention of those opposed to gay marriage, because it comes across as an anti-gay article. He is trying to convince them that gay people should have the same marital rights as straight people. The number seven listing is meant to open people’s eyes to the fact that gay couples do in face raise straight children and do not influence their children to be gay. Gay parents are just the same as straight parents when it comes to parenting. Belmont is biased in his argument that gay couples should be allowed the same marital and parental rights as straight couples; by the way he uses sarcasm to say that gay couples shouldn’t have the same rights as straight couples. Belmont’s listings are accurate because gay people are just the same as straight people, other than the fact that they are physically attracted to the same sex. Sarcasm is the best way to show Belmont’s ethos; it lets his audiences know that he knows both sides of his argument and he uses sarcasm to make each point in his listing seem ridiculous. Belmont is stating that the government is being unfair and judgmental towards homosexuals. Homosexuality has been one of the most controversial topics in the United States since the 1950’s. When psychologist performed tests on homosexuals, homosexuality was said to be a sickness and contagious. Although homosexuality has been proven not to be a disease, many people still consider it to be wrong and do not encourage homosexuals to parent children. According to an article by Paul Cameron, “homosexuality is contagious.” This suggests that anyone who comes in contact with a homosexual will contract homosexuality. This would make it more dangerous for children of homosexual parents, because children are more susceptible to illness and influence. Cameron’s ideas deduce that such children will automatically be homosexual. Conversely, an article by Mackenzie Carpenter shows that homosexual parents do not influence or encourage their children to be homosexual. My personal experience also indicates that growing up in a homosexual home in no way encourages an individual to become gay:
The sexual development of children of gay and lesbian parents is interesting for both scientific and social reasons. The present study is the largest to date to focus on the sexual orientation of adult sons of gay men. From advertisements in gay publications, 55 gay or bisexual men were recruited who reported on 82 sons at least 17 years of age. More than 90% of sons whose homosexual orientation could be rated were heterosexual. Furthermore, Gay and heterosexual sons did not differ on potentially relevant variables such as the length of time they had lived with their fathers. Results suggest that any environmental influence of gay fathers on their sons' sexual orientation is not large (Vogel 5).
This survey says that gay parents have no real influence on their son's sexual orientation. Along with getting married, openly gay and lesbian parents are starting families. This is a concern for some because the common opinion on homosexuality “holds that, like drug use, homosexuality is a learned pathology passed from generation to generation by molding and seduction” (Cameron 2). Homosexuality cannot be compared to drug use because drug use can cause addiction and harm to one’s body, whereas homosexuality is simply the physical and emotional attraction to someone of the same sex. A countless amounts of misnomers wrong claims about homosexuality have been found to have occurred throughout history. It wasn’t until 1973 that homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Doctors believe that mental illness can be passed onto their offspring. So, it is theorized that children of homosexual parents are more likely to become homosexuals themselves as adults because they are exposed to it on a daily basis. Children are mimetic, so it stands to reason that by being exposed to homosexuality regularly they are more inclined to become homosexual themselves. However, most homosexual adults are raised by heterosexual parents (Vogel 8). This makes it seems as though people who disagree with homosexuality will accept any reason as to why homosexuality is wrong and why it has such a strong, negative influence on children. Contagion was not the only leading theory against homosexual parenting but also sexual abuse of children. Cameron believed, “It is vain to blind oneself to the fact that the problem of male homosexuality is in essence the problem of the corruption of youth by itself and by its elders” (Cameron 3). There is also skepticism that homosexual parents are more likely to sexually abuse their children than heterosexual parents. “there is no evidence either that homosexual parents are more likely to seduce or allow their children to be seduced than their heterosexual counterparts or that lesbian mothers or their acquaintances molest children more often than heterosexual individuals” (Cameron 3) Homosexuals do not commit or allow sexual harm to be done to their children, nor do they purposely corrupt our youth. Most parents raise their children the way their parents raised them; this has nothing to do with sexual preference, because heterosexual people raise homosexual people.
Being raised in a home with lesbian parents is just the same as being raised in a home with heterosexual parents. Living with my mom and her husband for 9 years of my life was mostly the same as living with my lesbian parents, in which I have been with for 10 years now. My homosexual parents have not in any way encouraged me to be gay, if anything, it is the opposite because they do not want me to face as many hardships as they face. My parents raised me to be just like any other “normal” teenager raised by heterosexual parents, only I seem to be more open minded about things than my friends who were raised my their heterosexual parents. Some would say that my experience is not “typical” of a child growing up in a homosexual household. One man who would disagree with my actual knowledge of being raised by homosexuals is Paul Cameron. According to Paul Cameron I should have caught “the gay.”
Dr. Paul Cameron, a known homophobic, believes that homosexuality is contagious and that our youth must be protected from it. He states, "Homosexuality is an infectious appetite with personal and social consequences. It is like the dog that gets a taste for blood after killing its first victim and desires to get more victims thereafter with a ravenous hunger” (“Paul Cameron” 6). Cameron compares homosexuality to a blood-thirsty animal that has a desire to harm and kill other animals. He likens homosexuality to the predatory nature of a wild animal. Many anti-gay people use Cameron’s research to argue that homosexuality is wrong and homosexuals should not be allowed to parent children. His research is used on many anti-gay sites although he is not a credible source. Dr. A Nicholos Groth commented on Cameron’s crude distortion of Groth’s findings regarding homosexuals and children.
(Cameron) misrepresents my findings and distorts them to advance his homophobic views. I make a very clear distinction in my writing between pedophilia and homosexuality, noting that adult males who sexually victimize young boys are either pedophilic or homosexual, and that in my research I have not found homosexual men turning away from adult partners to children… I consider this totally unprofessional behavior on the part of Dr. Cameron and I want to bring this to your attention. He disgraces his profession (Tsunami 7).
Dr. Goth clearly states that Cameron misrepresents his work regarding homosexuals and pedophilic behavior towards children; there has been no found information to support Cameron’s belief of homosexual encouraging deviant sexual behavior with children. The American Sociological Association also says that Cameron has misinterpreted and misrepresented research on sexuality, homosexuality and lesbianism. Paul Cameron’s ethos was diminished when the American Psychological Association expelled him for non cooperation with the ethics committee, when he wrote papers associating homosexuality with perpetration of child abuse and reduced life expectancy. The American Sociological Association as well as the American Psychological Association accused Cameron of misrepresenting social science research (Tsunami 7). Cameron also delivered a speech stating that a four-year-old boy suffered a brutal homosexual attack in a mall, but police were not able to confirm Cameron’s accusation, and finally Cameron confessed that it was a rumor he had heard. Not only is Cameron not a reliable source because of his countless amounts of false accusations and papers, but he is also described by Tsunami and Dr. Goth as being a homophobic. Cameron is incapable of making a clear and accurate case about homosexuals because he is only willing to look at things through his skewed perspective.
According to an article by Mackenzie Carpenter, in which he interviewed two children of homosexual parents, homosexual parents do not influence their children to be gay. Terrance McGeorge is a 20 year old African American male who is the son of a gay man. Terrance is gay, and says that he started getting crushes on boys when he was around three or four years old. Many people may think that Terrance’s being gay is a result of his father being gay, but, in fact, according to Terrance, his father did not come out to him until he was six years old. Terrance’s father never encouraged his son to be gay; it was simply a coincidence. Just as heterosexual parents whose children are gay is a coincidence; most people would not suggest that heterosexual parents influenced their children towards a gay life. According to Paul Cameron and others who argue that homosexual parents influence their children to be gay, heterosexual parents should not have homosexual children because parents influence their children to be the same as them. Carpenter’s second interview was with Rebecca Meiksin, a 22 year old female who is the daughter of a lesbian. Rebecca is heterosexual and always has been. Rebecca says that her mother never told her that she was gay, but she knew at a young age because her mother’s friends always had same sex significant others and she always attended gay rights events. Rebecca’s mother never encouraged her to be with women, and her mother was not, in any way, a man hater. Rebecca’s mother allowed male influences on Rebecca’s life; she even had a pretend father who was also gay (Carpenter 5). Rebecca is a prime example that a heterosexual child can be raised by a homosexual and not be influenced to be gay. In support of this argument, the court case Bottom v. Bottom in November 1993, the American Psychological Association states that “the belief that a child raised in a household with a lesbian or gay parent is more apt to be lesbian or gay is without any basis in fact” (Cameron 2). This case proves that homosexual parents do not breed homosexual children. Paul Cameron asks in his article about homosexual parents “is research so rigorous and compelling, that it enables a prudent person or professional association to completely disregard common or traditional opinion?” (Cameron 2). This is why Cameron is not a credible source on gay parenting; he is not concerned with the facts, but with “the common or traditional opinion.” While Cameron’s argument is based on social fears, Carpenter’s argument is based on facts. What makes Carpenter a credible source, is that both her interviews were with children of gay parents, one being homosexual and the other being heterosexual. Carpenter also has not made any false claims in her research.
There are also many positive celebrity influences on homosexual parenting as well. I’m sure that Neil Patrick Harris, one of the most respected men on television and Broadway, and his partner David Burtka are not encouraging or influencing their children to be gay. Like many parents, they want to provide a loving environment in which they can grow to feel confident to be and express themselves freely. If anything, parents should be supportive of whatever sexual preference their children have and concern themselves more with their children’s happiness. In my own experience I have learned that straight parents try harder to influence their children to be straight than homosexual parents influence their children’s sexual preferences at all. Heterosexual and homosexual parents raise both homosexual and heterosexual children
Belmont’s Top Ten Reasons Gay Marriage Should be Illegal number seven “obviously gay parents raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children,” is the perfect example of why gay parents do raise straight children, through his sarcasm he shows how ridiculous that statement really is.
Works Cited
Belmont, Barry. "Top Ten Reasons Gay Marriage Should Be Illegal." UNR Students for Liberty. 9 June 2010. Web. 23 Jan. 2012. <http://unrforliberty.com/2010/06/top-ten-reasons-gay-marriage-should-be-illegal.html>.
Bobrow, David, Marilyn Wolfe, Sarah Mikach, and J. Michael Bailey. "Sexual Orientation of Adult Sons of Gay Fathers." Developmental Psychology. By Judith Harris. 1st ed. Vol. 31. 1931.
Cameron, Paul, and Kirk Cameron. "Adolescence." Homosexual Parents 31 (1996). Print.
Cameron, Paul. "Children Of Homosexuals And Transsexuals More Apt To Be Homosexual." Cambridge Journals (2005).
Carpenter, Mackenzie. "What Happens to Kids Raised by Gay Parents?" Post-Gazette.com. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9 June 2007. Web. 5 Feb. 2012. <http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07161/793042-51.stm>.
"Paul Cameron." Southern Poverty Law Center. Southern Poverty Law Firm, 2 Feb. 2012. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. <http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/profiles/paul-cameron>.
Tsunami, Black. "Homophobic 'researcher' Paul Cameron in All of His Repulsive Glory." Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters. 20 July 2009. Web. <http://holybulliesandheadlessmonsters.blogspot.com/2009/07/homophobic-researcher-paul-cameron-in.html>.
Vogel, David L., Stephanie Madon, and Stephen R. Wester. "Mental Health Stereotypes About Gay Men." Sex Roles A Journal of Research. By Guy A. Boysen. 1-2 ed. Vol. 54.
