Young & Out in Mississippi

Study: Gay Parents As Good As Straight Parents

From Edge New England:

A study conducted by Cambridge University concluded that gay British parents are just as good as heterosexual parents.

The report, released by the British Association of Adoption and Fostering on March 4, chronicles the experiences of 130 families with adopted children. Of those, 49 are heterosexual couples, and 41 are gay and lesbian couples.

"Overall we found markedly more similarities than differences in experiences between family types," professor Susan Golombok, director of the Centre for Family Research and co-author of the report, told the Gay Star News.

Most people don't need a study to know this. There was another study that said quite the opposite, except it was revealed that that study had been manipulated to show unfavourable results that made gay couples look like bad parents. Between that revelation and this study, it has not been a good week to be against same-sex couple having kids.

LGBT Demographics

From the Washington Post:

About one in five gay and lesbian couples is raising children under age 18. One in 10 men with a male partner or spouse is a military veteran. As many as 6 million Americans, roughly 2 percent of the population, have a parent who is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT).

These nuggets of demographic insight into same-sex couples were contained in an amicus brief filed in connection with cases before the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of California’s gay marriage ban and the Defense of Marriage Act. 

A decade ago, such precise statistics were impossible to come by. Even now, many of the numbers commonly used to shape government policies are, for gays and lesbians, nonexistent. 

But as gays become more visible in politics, demographic research into lesbians and gays is emerging from the shadows. Some gay advocates say it’s time for surveys to ask people their sexual orientation point-blank...

How Many Americans Are Gay?

Reaction to Obama's LGBT-Inclusive Inauguration Speech

Kicked Out: Homeless Youth

Ali Forney Center Gets Big Donation

From the Advocate:

After the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, the future of the Ali Forney Center, a New York City organization serving homeless LGBT teens, was looking rather grim.

Once news spread of the destruction of the group's drop-in center in Chelsea, the LGBT community rallied to help, even raising more than $400,000 to help with rebuilding. Now even more good news to add to the new year cheer: Time Warner Cable has chosen the Ali Forney Center as the recipient of the Time Warner Cable Learning Lab grant, $50,000 in funds that will provide the center with new computers, tablets, and televisions with the latest technology.

Did Gays Decide The Election?

From the New York Times:

...But the backing Mr. Obama received from gay voters also has a claim on having been decisive. Mitt Romney and Mr. Obama won roughly an equal share of votes among straight voters nationwide, exit polls showed. And, a study argues, Mr. Romney appears to have won a narrow victory among straight voters in the swing states of Ohio and Florida. 

Mr. Obama’s more than three-to-one edge in exit polls among the 5 percent of voters who identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual was more than enough to give him the ultimate advantage, according to the study, by Gary J. Gates of the Williams Institute at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, in conjunction with Gallup. The results are consistent with earlier research on the number and political beliefs of gay voters...

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As with Latinos and Asian-Americans, the number of voters who say they are gay appears to be growing. Only 1.9 percent of Americans over 65 call themselves gay, lesbian or bisexual, according to the Gallup survey, while 3.2 percent of those between 30 and 49, and 6.4 percent of those between 18 and 29 do. 

“In the younger population, there is a much wider range in the geography and ethnicity of those who are identifying as L.G.B.T.,” Dr. Gates said, using a common term for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. That range now extends well beyond major cities and into multiple swing states. 

As Republicans plan to reach out to Hispanics and Asian-Americans, another question is whether they would also help themselves by improving their standing among gay voters. Some analysts say Republicans should try to do so, in part to win over moderate straight voters, while others see any such effort as having more risk than upside...

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Exit polls showed that 76 percent of voters who identified as gay supported Mr. Obama last week, and that 22 percent supported Mr. Romney. Among straight people, each candidate received 49 percent of the vote.

A Congress of Firsts

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