New findings disprove arguments for DOMA
Five days remain until the Supreme Court hears arguments on both the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s gay marriage ban, and more evidence is trickling in against the conservative perspective.
One of the go-to arguments for opponents of same-sex marriage claims that children raised in such families perform more poorly in schools and are more susceptible to mental disorders. In a recent policy statement, accompanied by statistics and studies, the American Association of Pediatrics says this is not the case. According to the report, stability and security within a family matters most to a child’s physical and mental well-being, and when the financial and social support of the parents are accounted for, gender and sexuality hardly matters at all. While evidence shows greater well-being for children in a household with their biological parents, this has no relevance to the gay marriage debate, as a homosexual couple adopting or using a surrogate is just as likely to have that child perform well in schools and in social settings as a heterosexual couple doing the same.
As the Supreme Court’s decision closes in, the foundations holding up DOMA are beginning to wither. Republican Senator Rob Portman began supporting gay marriage after coming to terms with his son’s homosexuality. Edith Windsor, a challenger of DOMA, was left with $363,000 of federal taxes after her partner passed away from multiple sclerosis because the U.S. government refused to acknowledge her union. It’s time to recognize the truth.