Scalia on Same Sex Marriage

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia weighs in on same-sex marriage as reported by Sahil Kapur on Talking Points Memo.

“If you redefine marriage to include same-sex couples,” he said, “you must permit adoption by same-sex couples, and there’s considerable disagreement among sociologists as to what the consequences of raising a child in a single-sex family, whether that is harmful to the child or not. Some states do not permit adoption by same-sex couples for that reason.”

The American Academy of Pediatrics opposes Scalia's view according to The New York Times.

The academy cited research finding that a child’s well-being is much more affected by the strength of relationships among family members and a family’s social and economic resources than by the sexual orientation of the parents. “There is an emerging consensus, based on extensive review of the scientific literature, that children growing up in households headed by gay men or lesbians are not disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents,” the academy said.

 

A large body of evidence demonstrates that children raised by gay or lesbian parents fare as well in emotional, cognitive and social functioning as peers raised by heterosexuals, the academy said.

 

The American Psychological Association has reached a similar conclusion.

 

As this summary will show, the results of existing research comparing lesbian and gay parents to heterosexual parents and children of lesbian and gay parents to children of heterosexual parents are quite clear: Common stereotypes are not supported by the data.

 

Both bodies issue the usual caveats about research methods (limited sample size, inconsistent control groups).  Another issue with this research is that it is much harder to show a lack of differences between groups with statistical models designed to provide a rigorous standard for showing between group differences.

Bottom line is that Justice Scalia comes off similarly to those who claim the science on climate change "isn't settled" when a vast majority of climatologists say it is.  Once more, Scalia gives up any pretense of impartiality in favor of sounding like a Republican political operative.