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Children in US gay and lesbian families more likely to live in poverty: Study

Doug Sabiston's photo
Canada Gay & Lesbian Issues Examiner

Children in GLBT families are just as happy, healthy, and well-adjusted as children in traditional families, but in America they’re more likely to live in poverty, according to a  comprehensive report released on Tuesday.

The report, ‘All Children Matter: How Legal and Social Inequalities Hurt LGBT Families’ said that the lack of federal and state recognition of same-sex marriages means gay and lesbian families face serious disadvantages, including higher tax burdens and unequal access to health insurance and social programs.

Furthermore, children in GLBT families are subject to being denied legal ties to one of their parents.

"Unfortunately, public policy has not kept up with the changing reality of the American family," said the report. "Indeed, our laws and discourse largely ignore the roughly two million children being raised by a parent or parents who are LGBT. They also ignore children in other family configurations, such as those with unmarried heterosexual parents. As a result, most Americans are probably unaware of the many ways in which unequal treatment and social stigma harm the millions of children whose families do not fit into a certain mold."

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In Canada, where same-sex marriage is legal, there are no known studies indicating similar conditions.

The report was authored by a coalition of child-welfare groups, including Movement Advancement Project, Family Equality Council, and Center for American Progress.

Key facts from the report:

 • An estimated 2 million children in the US are being raised in LGBT families.

• More than one-third of lesbians and three-quarters of bisexual women without a child want to have children.
 
• 57% of gay men and 70% of bisexual men who have not had children, want to.
 
• 38% of transgendered adults identify as parents.
 
 • LGBT families live in 96% of US counties.
 
 • Same-sex couples in the South are more likely to be raising children than those in other regions of the country.
 
• Same-sex couples of color are more likely to raise children than white same-sex couples.
 
• More than 30 years of research shows that children raised in LGBT families are just as happy, healthy and well-adjusted as children raised in traditional families.
 
• Every major authority on child health and welfare has determined that sexual orientation has nothing to do with the ability to be a good parent.
US President Barack Obama speaks at the Human Rights Campaign's 15th Annual National Dinner in Washington Oct. 1, 2011. He spoke to one of the leading gay rights groups two weeks after the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
US President Barack Obama speaks at the Human Rights Campaign's 15th Annual National Dinner in Washington Oct. 1, 2011. He spoke to one of the leading gay rights groups two weeks after the repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.
Photo credit: 
Kristoffer Tripplaar-Pool/Getty Images

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, Canada Gay & Lesbian Issues Examiner

Doug Sabiston is a gay journalist living in Vancouver, BC. Doug graduated from Kwantlen College's journalism program in 1997 and has written and photographed for a number of BC community newspapers since. With a passion for gay and lesbian issues Doug has committed himself to help bring the...

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