Latest Study of Children Raised by LGBT Parents

The Williams Institute, which aims to "advance sexual orientation law and public policy" through scientific research is sharing the results of the longest study of children raised by LGBT parents ever to be recorded.

The Williams Institute, based out of UCLA Law, recently published the results of the United States National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study (NLLFS). The study is now in its 24th year, and recently studied the 17-year-old daughters and sons of lesbian couples, asking in particular about topics ranging from sexual abuse to sexual behavior.

Of the 78 teens surveyed, not a single teen reported any sort of abuse-- sexual or physical, which contrasts to the 26% of American teens that report physical abuse and the 8% of teens that report sexual abuse by their heterosexual parents.

Another note? Only 2.8% stated that they would describe themselves as homosexual. Nature vs. nurture win anyone?

The results go a long way in demonstrating the non-maleficent, and perhaps beneficent, impacts of having LGBT parents. The only problems I note with the study (after checking out the Williams Institute website, which you can find here) is that it only looked at 78 teenagers-- hardly a good sample. Additionally, the children were all raised by lesbian partners, which renders it inconclusive about gay partnerships.