A study published in the Journal of GLBT Family Studies has collected the experiences of gay male partners who have become fathers through surrogacy. The study shows that gay male couples are “more likely than heterosexual fathers to scale back their careers in order to care for their children. Also, these fathers report that their self-esteem and their closeness with their extended families increases after becoming parents.” Photo Advocate
The four psychology researchers who conducted the study, Kim Bergman of Growing Generations in Los Angeles (a surrogacy agency), Ritchie J. Rubio, Robert-Jay Green, and Elena Padrón of the Rockway Institute at the California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, collected information from one man in 40 couples and focused on four aspects of the fathers’ experience as they became parents: 1) work and career changes, 2) lifestyle issues, 3) couple, family and friendship experiences, and 4) self-esteem and self-care.
In most ways, the gay fathers reported life changes that were very similar to those reported by heterosexual couples. The couples reported “closer relations with co-workers, a transition away from single friends toward other couples (straight and gay) with children, and less time for sleep, exercise, and hobbies.”
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Gay Fathers Day: Two-Dad Families Doing Well in Transition to Parenthood June 14, 2010 - Newswise
...One of the notable findings was that having a child significantly improved the gay fathers’ self esteem. Nearly all (95 percent) said having a child “makes me feel good about myself” and that their self-esteem had improved since being a parent. The new fathers reported they were taking less care of themselves by sleeping and exercising less and devoting less time to hobbies, leisure activities and involvement in personal causes. Although their reported spirituality had not changed significantly, more of the new parents (an increase from 25 to 38 percent) reported they were attending religious services since adding a child to their family... Photo
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Homophobia in the Church: What Catholics Are Doing About It, and What Still Needs to Be Done
By Michele Somerville, October 10, 2010
The Huffington Post
My daughter later asked how it was that gay people could have their children baptized in Catholic churches but not be married in them. Good question. I broke it down for her. I told her a far greater percentage of Catholics support gay marriage than support the Vatican. I characterized the failure of my church to offer gay Catholics marriage in the church as just that -- "a failure." And a sin. Photo
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“Someday, maybe,
there will exist a well-informed,
well considered and yet
fervent public conviction that the
most deadly of all possible
sins
is the mutilation of
a child’s spirit.”
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