[ABANDONED] A Gay Expression

[Candlewhisper Archive]

TITLE:
A Gay Expression

VALIDITY:
follow on from 218.1

DESCRIPTION:
Your nation's endorsement of adoption by same-sex couples was welcomed by many, but now critics have unearthed research that strongly suggests that being raised by LGBT parents has a strong correlation with both gay sexuality and transgender identity.


OPTION 1
"Seems clear to me that kids are being conditioned by their life experiences," surmises controversial actress Melanie Gibson, fresh from the set of her latest movie The Passion of the Beaver. "I mean, when you get a ten-year-old declaring he's a girl, do you really think that his lesbian parents haven't turned him against maleness in some way? I'm not saying don't let these people be gay or trans, but maybe we need social workers to keep a closer eye on kids on those families, to make sure they're not being persuaded to be something they're not."

OUTCOME:
the government always stops to watch when two men kiss

OPTION 2
"Wait a second, why are we talking about this like it's a negative outcome?" argues lesbian and liberal @@randomfemalename@@. "What seems more likely to me is that there's kids in conservative families who are transgender or gay, and who are too frightened to reveal themselves. We're the ones encouraging them to know themselves. You should be looking at educating cisgender and straight parents, to get them more accepting of their kids' choices."

OUTCOME:
parents who buy skirts for little girls are accused of imposing gender expectations

OPTION 3
"We could try to bring balance to these forces," suggests bisexual vagrant Keegan Jin, who recently adopted a young son with his partner, Old Ben Carnaby. "Sexuality is something kids can work out and change their mind about as they go. But gender, really, we shouldn't be medicalising kids with all that stuff till after puberty. Discourage labelling kids as transgender, and let everything else work itself out."

OUTCOME:
teenagers often declare that they hate their own bodies

OPTION 4
"Hey, you ask me, this whole family unit thing is over-rated," says gender non-binary asexual teenager @@malefirstname@@ @@femalefirstname@@ @@surname@@. "Parents a drag no matter who they are. You should be encouraging community-based raising of kids instead, where it doesn't matter whose genes you've got, and a kid is looked after by a whole commune, and can change commune if zhe doesn't like it."

OUTCOME:
collectivism is breeding rugged individualists

[USS Monitor]

This sounds like the sort of "research" that would be released by right-wing propagandists. If you're going to roll with it, could we have a speaker questioning the scientific rigor of the study rather than just looking for an explanation of the results?

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Well, the biggest real life research was created by the Williams Institute, an independent group with a special interest in LGBT welfare, and their work covers a lot of different LGBT issues, with very little evidence of any right wing bias.

It looks scientifically sound to me, and if anything the researchers lean towards liberalism, and are ardent campaigners against discrimination.

They're not the only centre to have noted this correlation either - academics from all sides of the political spectrum have observed it.

The right wing sources with agendas tend to propose the more controversial stance that same sex parents are detrimental to children's wellbeing, but that is very poorly evidenced. That's not what this issue is about of course - rather it's to do with the correlation of same sex couples with children who go on to express homosexuality and/or transgender identity. That correlation is well evidenced and based on sound science - how that correlation is interpreted is, of course, what the issue is about.

[Sanctaria]

Yeah, as a gay person, this whole issue made me cringe and roll my eyes. I think such studies are clumsy dog whistles that harken back to the gay men can't/shouldn't raise children because the children will end up gay and oooh god knows what'll happen then.

I don't think an issue like this can work without insulting many gay people on the site.

[Ransium]

I disagree that this issue represents where the best available science is at. See Walter Schumm and Duane Crawford 2019 (Scientific Consensus on Whether LGBTQ Parents are more likely (or not) to have LGTB children) or Adams and Light 2015 (Scientific Consensus, the law, and same sex parenting outcomes).

[USS Monitor]

For issues purposes, the important point is that a lot of people would think this is bad science, and it feels unbalanced without that opinion being represented.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

Fair enough then, I'll look at revising this.

[Australian rePublic]

So what's the issue here? Gay couples are raising gay children? Where's the nut job conspiracy theorist questioning why straight couples are raising gay children?