Psychologist Voices Disagreement with APA's Support of Same-Sex Marriage, Points to Adverse Impact on Children
by Staff
October 18, 2007
SAN DIEGO Calif., (christiansunite.com) -- Same-sex marriage is one of the hottest and most controversial domestic issues in America. As a result, many professional organizations have stepped into the fray and taken formal positions with the hope of influencing public opinion and policy. One such group is the American Psychological Association (APA) that has officially endorsed the legalization of same-sex marriage.
Many psychologists, however, including members of the APA, disagree with the organization's pro-same- sex-marriage position. One of those dissenters is Trayce Hansen, Ph.D., a licensed clinical psychologist and former member of the APA, who opposes same- sex marriage on the grounds it will be detrimental to the children of same-sex couples as well as to other children who will be influenced by the all-types-of- marriage-are-equivalent social message.
Dr. Hansen's opposition to same-sex marriage is explained in her recently released opinion article titled "Love Isn't Enough: Five Reasons Why Same- Sex Marriage Will Harm Children" which is available at http://www.drtraycehansen.com.
In the article she expounds on five reasons why it is in the best interest of children to be raised by a married mother and father: First, children require mother-love and father- love, both of which are equally important but qualitatively different. Second, children progress through certain developmental stages during which they need a mother, and other stages when they need a father.
Third, children require an opposite-sexed parent to help them moderate their own gender-linked inclinations. Fourth, same-sex marriage will increase sexual uncertainty and sexual experimentation by young people. And finally, if same-sex marriage is permitted, then other types of marriages such as polygamous and polyamorous ones also would have to be allowed leading to more confusion in the lives of children.
In her article Dr. Hansen expresses compassion for homosexuals who desire marriage. But she nonetheless concludes, as does 2,000 years of accumulated cultural wisdom, that the ideal marital and parental configuration is a mother and father and that disregarding such wisdom would be tantamount to using children as guinea pigs in a radical and risky experiment.
