{"id":2583,"date":"2017-10-23T09:54:34","date_gmt":"2017-10-22T22:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/?p=2583"},"modified":"2018-12-18T11:24:00","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T00:24:00","slug":"top-child-health-experts-call-for-an-end-to-discrimination-and-stigma-surrounding-same-sex-families","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.rch.org.au\/ccch\/2017\/10\/23\/top-child-health-experts-call-for-an-end-to-discrimination-and-stigma-surrounding-same-sex-families\/","title":{"rendered":"Discrimination, not same-sex parents, harms children"},"content":{"rendered":"

A review by leading child and adolescent health experts from Australia and New Zealand has revealed children raised by same-sex parents do as just well as well emotionally, socially and educationally as other children, despite the discrimination that their families endure.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Centre for Community Child Health director Professor Frank Oberklaid and colleagues from Murdoch Children\u2019s Research Institute, the University of Melbourne, the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital, Victorian Clinical Genetics Services, the Children\u2019s Hospital at Westmead, and the Liggins Institute at the University of Auckland, reviewed the best available evidence spanning three decades from Australia and internationally.<\/p>\n

The review concluded that it is family processes (e.g. parenting quality, parental wellbeing, the quality of and satisfaction with relationships within the family), rather than family structures (e.g. the number, gender, sexuality or cohabitation arrangements of parents), that make a more meaningful difference to children\u2019s wellbeing and positive development.<\/p>\n

The review comes in response to \u201cmisinformation \u2026 circulating in the public domain\u201d as a result of the ongoing same-sex marriage debate, with the authors warning that negative, discriminatory and homophobic statements around the same-sex debate can cause serious harm to children and their parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn increased public health risk exists as a result of homophobic campaign messages for the entire lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) community, including a mental health risk for same-sex couples, their children, and young people who identify as LGBTIQ+,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n

Key findings<\/h3>\n

The review, published in the Medical Journal of Australia<\/a> on 23 October 2017, included:<\/p>\n