New Study Finds ZERO PERCENT Child Abuse Rate in Lesbian Households

I’m not surprised!! 

I never trust statistics but somehow this just feels so true!

this is _way_ too small of a sample to make this statement.  Honestly, I believe there is no difference between a straight or gay family–including numbers of sexually abused children–sad as it is to say.

Speaking as someone that has done some extensive study–and plan to do more in the future–you are incorrect. There is a difference, however, it is heteronormative to assume that difference is somehow equivalent to deficiency, as many straight researchers would have us believe. One of the differences is that lesbian parents tend to be more satisfied with their partners than straight couples and children have a greater sense of wellbeing because of it. Children have also reported more self-esteem when raised in a household with same-sex parents and girls raised by same-sex parents choose careers without regard for gender norms more often.

Willi828, I’m actually going to have to sort of disagree with you. Females make up less than 10% of offenders arrested for sex crimes. Ergo, it actually kind of makes sense that the number would be an almost zeo. Though I will concur with you that the number of case studies is a bit low to say that not even a teeny tiny .5% would report abuse of any kind. I do think, however, that it IS significant does show that homosexual couples deserve to be parents. Why would a couple go through the journey of adopting, or egg/sperm donors, or surogates or any other way to acheive the dream of being parents only to have little punching bags running around the house? That just makes no sense. I’ll just end with the thought that having to moms at the head of a house means twice the maternal instincts. =)

i agree with willi but its nice to know facts like this because it pushed me as a lesbian to have kids, something i have always wanted to do but did not want to deal with the stigma of doing. good press is always awesome!!

[...] study finds zero percent child abuse rate in lesbian households Read full story here. First of all… Take THAT, anti-gays of the world. Second of all, what are everyone's thoughts on [...]

Why would a heterosexual couple go through the journey of adopting, egg/sperm donors, surrogates, or regular sex, to achieve their dreams of being parents, just to have little punching bags running around the house? Sure it is easier for them to do it (Have kids, or adopt them), but I don’t think that’s really an excuse for why they would abuse them…

I mean, it might be easier for me to get a car than someone else, but that doesn’t mean I wont take care of my car as much as someone else because it took less time for me to get it. I use the car example, because similar to kids, cars are important especially if you require one to get back and forth to work or school, but you also have to put a lot of time and money and energy into your car and its upkeep because not only are they expensive but they are an investment for your future. Kids, of course, are also expensive, and obviously important, and in some ways are kind of an investment, as you are investing a lot of time and money into them in the hopes that you raise them right, and they get good jobs and have families and one day can help take care of you in your hour of need.

On that note, some people are just screwed up… They do bad things just because they can or even because they can’t help it. Not saying LGBT people will or do this, just saying that ANY person gay, straight, bi, whatever, has the capacity to do it. And I don’t think 0 out of 78 really constitutes something amazing and super special. It is nice to see that lesbian parents are good with children, but this is just a very small population of lesbian parents over a very small portion of time. 24 years is not a lot.

So yes, this is a great step forward for LGBT people everywhere and this is wonderful to hear as I am in full support of LGBT people and there fight to be able to adopt and have children freely, but I think that this particular study still has some ways to go before it can be considered credible. And I don’t think just because it is harder for LGBT parents to obtain children that it means they won’t abuse their children. There are straight couples or single straight people who have to jump through hoops to get or have children and still treat them badly.

  Would somebody send this statistical finding to Santorum. 

1) That margin of error for a study with 78 participants — even if entirely representative — is greater than 10%. 

2) As this is a longitudinal study, all of the participants know they are being studied and watched. So, there is good reason to think that there is an additional check on their behavior. Parents know questions will be asked. Maybe that makes them take an extra deep breath and time out before they do something stupid.

3) Children in these families may believe that they need to make sure they don’t make such families look bad, and therefore have greater reason to cover up bad behavior. 

4) As others have said, applying the overall rate of reported abuse by opposite sex couples to lesbian couples is entirely inappropriate if the researches shows that male and female parents have notably different rates of reported abuse.

I entirely believe that children are abused are far lower rate when parented by same sex couples, even a far lower rate. But 0% is not credible. I don’t see a link to the article itself, but I am confident that it does not report such things without confidence intervals/margins of error. 

To make a bit more formal what others have already said, I have no doubt that this study does NOT show that mothers in lesbian couples sexually abuse their children at a lower rate than  single mothers or those in opposite sex couples. Furthermore, it probably fails to show that mothers in lesbian couples abuse their children at a lower rate than other mothers. 

Sample size. Margin of Error. Representativeness. All the classic elements of misreporting a well-conducted scientific study. 

you also realize that assaults by women on males is extremely highly underreported.

there are too many unfit straight families having kids by accident who make horrible parents…or just because they can have children. Lesbians have to go out of the way to have a kid, because they want to be a parent. Which means they are probably more prepared for it and the thirst for a happy family. 

The main reason your car example doesn’t hold is that very few people end up with unplanned/unwanted vehicles, and if by some chance they do, they tend to get  rid of them quickly

 Ummm… I think you need to re-read my post.

We are not talking about people who have ended up with unwanted/unplanned children, we are talking about people who have to jump through hoops to get a child whether that be through adoption, sperm/egg donation, surrogate, or regular sex. You don’t go through all of this to get a child just because you don’t plan on having a child or don’t want one.

The car reason is still very valid, and on that note, I feel that just because you don’t plan on getting a car or you got an unwanted car, doesn’t mean you would purposefully treat it badly. I can speak from experience, as I was given a car that I didn’t want and didn’t plan to have I kept it and treated it like it was golden, because it was the only car I had at the time and I relied on it for everything, insurance on the car was crazy expensive since I am under 21 and it didn’t need to be or could afford for it to be any higher. And even after that when I was given another car which was better but unexpected as I had no idea I was getting one. I still kept my old car and took care of it and used it often, as  I knew if something happened to the new one I would not be able to afford a replacement car but also, other people in my family who were learning to drive or needed a car when there cars broke down or needed to be fixed, could use it as well. Even though I have a new car now. I still have at least one of the old ones, as a “just in case” car. The oldest one I started out with was REALLY old and ended up dying eventually, but gave me a lot of good times, and the newer one I still have and it still runs well.

So anyway, now that you got my car history, I don’t think lesbian’s really have unwanted or unplanned children dropped on there laps. That being said, I also think that non-homosexual people who have to work hard to obtain a child for whatever reason, aren’t doing so in a way that would give them an unexpected or unplanned child.

 Ummm… I think you need to re-read my post.

We are not talking about people who have ended up with unwanted/unplanned children, we are talking about people who have to jump through hoops to get a child whether that be through adoption, sperm/egg donation, surrogate, or regular sex. You don’t go through all of this to get a child just because you don’t plan on having a child or don’t want one.

The car reason is still very valid, and on that note, I feel that just because you don’t plan on getting a car or you got an unwanted car, doesn’t mean you would purposefully treat it badly. I can speak from experience, as I was given a car that I didn’t want and didn’t plan to have I kept it and treated it like it was golden, because it was the only car I had at the time and I relied on it for everything, insurance on the car was crazy expensive since I am under 21 and it didn’t need to be or could afford for it to be any higher. And even after that when I was given another car which was better but unexpected as I had no idea I was getting one. I still kept my old car and took care of it and used it often, as  I knew if something happened to the new one I would not be able to afford a replacement car but also, other people in my family who were learning to drive or needed a car when there cars broke down or needed to be fixed, could use it as well. Even though I have a new car now. I still have at least one of the old ones, as a “just in case” car. The oldest one I started out with was REALLY old and ended up dying eventually, but gave me a lot of good times, and the newer one I still have and it still runs well.

So anyway, now that you got my car history, I don’t think lesbian’s really have unwanted or unplanned children dropped on there laps. That being said, I also think that non-homosexual people who have to work hard to obtain a child for whatever reason, aren’t doing so in a way that would give them an unexpected or unplanned child.

I think this study is relevant in that it shows that there is a likeliehood that same-sex couples are less likely to abuse their children, however, the numbers don’t really add up simply because they do not define what constitutes abuse.  Some might think that allowing your children to watch Family Guy is abuse (and I think all would agree that any Michael Bay film can be considered cruel and unusual punishment), while others might feel that it is entirely appropriate.  Additionally, the same applies for physical abuse.  Some believe that any physical dicsipline is abuse while others feel that even going so far as to hit a child with an implement or backhand them in the face is perfectly acceptable.  One also must consider that this study is based on reports of adolescents raised by lesbian couples.  Statistics show that many victims of abuse do not identify themselves as having been abused, as they often accept the abusive actions as “normal” and do not see it as abuse until they are able to look at it from a more objective lens.  That is not to say that I believe lesbians abuse their children or that it is unlikely they do so less than heterosexual couples.  I do not, however, I don’t think this particular study lends itself to objective credibility.

cool story bro.. cars are soooo relevant to gay people having children..

you must not be a parent to compare a child to an inanimate object and think they are in any way the same.

the majority of heterosexual couples dont have to ‘jump through hoops’ to have children, they just do it and sometimes having that child isnt what they wanted and the child isnt treated as pairly by the parents. nobody is saying that that is always the case, however a homosexual couple CANNOT accidentially get eachother pregnant and have children.

In response to Michael’s point… I bet if you did a study of children born to hetero parents that had to jump through hoops to have their children, then yes, there would most likely be a huge drop in abuse rates. 
No child born through IVF or surrogacy is unwanted.  However, the majority of children born to hetero couples are probably an accident, and not all of them are wanted. Heck, not all of them are born to COUPLES. 

I knew this to be true always! I never needed a study to tell me that we (lesbians) never sexually assult children or anyone

 Umm… Super cool story bro… For not understanding what a metaphor is…

Regardless of whether I am a parent or not the idea is similar and that’s what matters. Hence the metaphor….

Homosexual couple’s in the case of this article are couple’s who had to jump through hoops to get there children. These are people who adopted, or used surrogacy, or sperm/egg donation, or what have you to have a child on top of being homosexual and the issues that arises.

We are not comparing these women to every woman out there capable of having a baby who is heterosexual. We are comparing people in similar situation. In this case, it would be how people who have to work to have a child, handle raising that child. If you can just go out and sleep with whoever to get pregnant, then you do not qualify for this comparison because you didn’t have to work for that child… Which is why your point is invalid.

And I think you will find that there are lots of heterosexual PEOPLE Not just COUPLES out there who CANNOT have children for a number of different reasons, such as infertility, dangerous health concerns, sterility for men, bad luck, lack of willing partner, whatever. And these people do work extremely hard to obtain a child and raise it. We aren’t ONLY speaking about couple’s here. single women or men who want to have a child would count here as well. And as you well know, hopefully, one man can not get pregnant and one female cannot impregnate herself without the help of another, or the alternative routes that we have discussed above.

 Umm… Super cool story bro… For not understanding what a metaphor is…

Regardless of whether I am a parent or not the idea is similar and that’s what matters. Hence the metaphor….

Homosexual couple’s in the case of this article are couple’s who had to jump through hoops to get there children. These are people who adopted, or used surrogacy, or sperm/egg donation, or what have you to have a child on top of being homosexual and the issues that arises.

We are not comparing these women to every woman out there capable of having a baby who is heterosexual. We are comparing people in similar situation. In this case, it would be how people who have to work to have a child, handle raising that child. If you can just go out and sleep with whoever to get pregnant, then you do not qualify for this comparison because you didn’t have to work for that child… Which is why your point is invalid.

And I think you will find that there are lots of heterosexual PEOPLE Not just COUPLES out there who CANNOT have children for a number of different reasons, such as infertility, dangerous health concerns, sterility for men, bad luck, lack of willing partner, whatever. And these people do work extremely hard to obtain a child and raise it. We aren’t ONLY speaking about couple’s here. single women or men who want to have a child would count here as well. And as you well know, hopefully, one man can not get pregnant and one female cannot impregnate herself without the help of another, or the alternative routes that we have discussed above.

 I agree with what you have to say completely. However, for the purpose of what we are talking about, I am just specifically talking about people (couples included) who have to jump through hoops to have a child.

78 NLLFS adolescents?  That’s it?  With such a small sample, your ready to suggest children are safer in an environment without a father?  I’m a big supporter of the homosexual community but it seems some within your movement are on a campaign to demonize fathers.