The new Policy Brief of the Center for Liberal Studies (KEFIM) presents the data of international scientific research regarding the upbringing of children raised by same-sex couples.

Specifically, in the study signed by Konstantinos Saravakos, research coordinator of the Center for Liberal Studies and Aristides Hatzis, professor of Philosophy of Law and Theory of Institutions at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Research Director of KEFIM, among others, The following:

“According to American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry), modern research demonstrates that children with gay male or lesbian parents do not differ from other children in terms of their emotional development and their relationship with their peers and adults. Children’s development is not affected by the sexual orientation of their parents, but by the quality of the parent/child relationship.”

Also, “research has shown that children with LGBT+ parents compared to children of heterosexual parents:

  • they are not more likely to have an LGBT+ orientation,
  • are not more likely to be sexually abused,
  • they do not perceive gender identity differently, and
  • they do not behave differently as men or women (gender role behavior)’.

Moreover, “the American Academy of Pediatrics (American Academy of Pediatrics) concludes that, based on more than 30 years of research data, children raised by gay men and lesbians demonstrate resilience in terms of their social, psychological, and sexual health, despite economic and legal disparities and social stigma which they sometimes face”.

According to an analysis of 79 studies by Cornell University, children of same-sex couples are not harmed by the fact that their parents are of the same sex. More specifically, according to 75 of the 79 studies (95% percentage) the children of same-sex parents do not differ from other children, while in the remaining 4 (5% percentage) some negative consequences are recorded for the children of same-sex couples.

Its two editors Policy Brief of KEFIM request to institute:

  • “the possibility of civil marriage between same-sex couples, a development that will also lead to the resolution of the consequent issues concerning kinship relationships, such as the legal recognition of the parental rights of both parents of children who grow up with parents of the same sex, access to adoption, as well as the recognition of foreign notary documents for same-sex Greek children who were born abroad and
  • the recognition of the right of same-sex couples to have children through surrogacy”.

In conclusion, the executive director of KEFIM Nikos Rompapas notes, in his statement, that “it is understandable that those who are interested in the well-being of children and do not know the findings of the relevant scientific research, have concerns regarding the prospect of childbearing by same-sex couples. To these concerns we want to answer thoroughly with this study which presents the overview of a very large body of research, which overwhelmingly agree that what determines the quality of a child’s upbringing is not the sexual orientation of his parents, but the quality of family relationships. There are many and serious criteria for parental suitability, but sexual orientation is not one of them,” he concludes.