Monday, April 21, 2008

Focus on the Family and Gay Relationships

James Dobson's Focus on the family likes to call it a myth that

Homosexual relationships are no different than heterosexual ones.


(That's Myth Number Three, for those counting).

Not so fast, Lou! A study by the University of Illinois (my Alma Mater) shows that:

same-sex relationships were similar to those of opposite-sex couples in many ways. All had positive views of their relationships but those in the more committed relationships (gay and straight) resolved conflict better than the heterosexual dating couples. And lesbian couples worked together especially harmoniously during the laboratory tasks.

The notion that committed same-sex relationships are “atypical, psychologically immature, or malevolent contexts of development was not supported by our findings,” said lead author Glenn I. Roisman, PhD. “Compared with married individuals, committed gay males and lesbians were not less satisfied with their relationships.”


Hmm, well, James and I may actually be disappointed in that result, but for different reasons. Given the high degree of divorce in straight America, I'd hope that gay couples would be happier than their straight counterparts. But, I'll take "just as satisfied" for now.

Oh, and if my partner and I are ever in one of these tests, I'm sticking close to the lesbian couples during the lab tasks, to improve my score.

Read more about the study here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm beginning to think instead of fighting for marriage rights, the fight should be to abolish marriage and matrimonial tax issues from the gov't scope of practice. The powers that be can't call that looking for special rights, opposed to equal rights; and proves there are more tactics to level the playing field than first meet the eye.

-C

Cardinal said...

I love the gays.