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A local gay rights organization said studies that state gay parents are more likely to raise gay children are a “far-fetched scheme” and hold little truth.

The statements from the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center of Colorado come one day after the Denver Daily News printed an article stating as many as 21 percent of “homosexually” parented children become gay themselves. The figure was based on an article by California psychologist Dr. Trayce L. Hansen, who in the article said she reviewed and validated all available research on the subject.

GLBT Community Center of Colorado Legal Director Mindy Barton apologized for not being available for comment Monday and offered several comments in response to the article by Hansen. She pointed out that the issue is a hot topic in Hansen’s home state of California where voters will be asked this year to vote on Proposition 8 that would amend the California State Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage.

“The idea that gay or lesbian parents somehow ‘create’ gay or lesbian children seems to me to be a far-fetched scheme by the supporters of Proposition 8 to instill an irrational fear in California voters,” said Barton.

Colorado law

She also pointed out that the American Academy of Pediatrics agreed in 2002 to support the legal adoption of children by co-parents or second parents, including second-parent adoption rights for gay and lesbian parents. The second-parent adoption law in Colorado went into effect in August 2007.

“This has dramatically strengthened families in Colorado,” said Barton. “It is my belief that anytime children have two loving, supportive, legally recognized parents it is good not only for those children, but also for society as a whole.”

No difference

Denver psychologist Dr. Vivian Schaefer, who works closely with gay patients and is affiliated with GLBT studies courses at the University of Denver, said the children of her gay clients adjust to society the same way the children of her heterosexual clients do.

“These kids don’t experience anymore difficulty than children raised by their heterosexual counterparts,” said Schaefer, who added that her client-base is about 50 percent gay.

She said she hears the same concerns from her gay clients as she does from her heterosexual clients about their children, including issues like behavior at school and difficulty choosing colleges.

Schaefer said for every study that indicates children of gay parents are more likely to be gay themselves, there is a study to prove the opposite. 

Hansen’s article was not reviewed by a group of her peers, which Schaefer said is also problematic from a research standpoint. 

Difficulty fitting in?

In Tuesday’s Denver Daily News article, Dr. Bill Maier, a clinical psychologist with Colorado Springs-based evangelical group Focus on the Family, said studies indicate children of gay couples tend to have a more difficult time adjusting to a society that is predominantly not gay. He said the children face gender identity issues, experiment more with gay activities, and the girls tend to be more promiscuous.

But Schaefer rejected the claims made by her peer arguing that studies only indicate that children raised by gay parents have more “gender fluidity,” and tend to choose lifestyles that include examples like non-traditional careers that fall outside what would be considered gender norms.

“For some reason, certain people in certain groups of people are afraid to embrace (gay) families. But people who know (gay) families and see them as parents, brothers, sisters … they know nothing to fear,” said Schaefer. “But obviously, there are certain people out there who are afraid.”

CORRECTIONS to 7/15 article entitled, “Gay parents = gay kids?”: Dr. Bill Maier, a clinical psychologist with Colorado Springs-based evangelical group Focus on the Family, should have been quoted as saying, “… mothers tend to be more relationship-based and stress sympathy, care and help (not ‘health’).” Maier also said he did not mean to imply that girls raised by gay couples tend to “share multiple partners,” just that they tend to be more “promiscuous.”

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