American Academy of Pediatrics Backs Gay Marriage

With opponents of gay marriage shrieking that gay parenting harms children and citing the fraudulent and Christofascist funded "study" done by Mark Regnerus, the American Academy of Pediatrics has formally announced that it supports gay marriage.  Moreover, it disputes the arguments of the opponents of marriage equality. The statement also notes that the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and the American College of Nursing all similarly support and end to bans against gay marriage.  One can only hope that the Supreme Court justices listen to actual experts and reject religiously motivated lies and bigotry.  Here are highlights on the Academy's formal endorsement of gay marriage:

The nation's most influential pediatrician's group has endorsed gay marriage, saying a stable relationship between parents regardless of sexual orientation contributes to a child's health and well-being.

The American Academy of Pediatrics' new policy, published online Thursday, cites research showing that the parents' sexual orientation has no effect on a child's development. Kids fare just as well in gay or straight families when they are nurturing and financially and emotionally stable, the academy says.

The academy believes that a two-parent marriage is best equipped to provide that kind of environment. Their policy says that if a child has two gay parents who choose to marry, "it is in the best interests of their children that legal and social institutions allow and support them to do so."

The policy cites reports indicating that almost 2 million U.S. children are being raised by gay parents, many of them in states that don't allow gays to marry.

The academy announced its position Thursday. Officials with the group said they wanted to make the academy's views known before two gay marriage cases are considered by the U.S. Supreme Court next week.

"We wanted that policy statement available for the justices to review," said Dr. Thomas McInerney, the academy's president and a pediatrician in Rochester, N.Y.

The academy's statement notes that several other national health groups have supported gay marriage. Those are the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association and the American College of Nursing.

Dr. Ben Siegel, a Boston pediatrician and chairman of an academy committee that developed the new policy, said its focus is on "nurturing children. We want what's best for children."

Additional coverage is here in the New York Times.  The Christofascists claim to care about children, but in truth they don't give a damn about them - especially the children of gays.  Their only real agenda is to seek to force their toxic beliefs and prejudices on all Americans.  Religion truly needs to be forced from public policy making decisions and the historic deference given to religion needs to end.