The people of Maine heard this message repeated throughout the legislative and referendum campaigns on marriage equality last year--from psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, parents, and children. It got through to a majority of the legislature, to the Governor, and to thousands of Mainers. But it clearly hasn't gotten through to everyone, which is why I never get tired of seeing it repeated, in every available forum. Today's forum was the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, in the trial of Perry et al. v. Schwarzenegger--a challenge to the constitutionality of California's ban on same-sex marriage. The speaker was Dr. Michael Lamb, one of the world's foremost experts in families and children. He told the Court that, "We have a substantial body of evidence documenting that a child being raised by same-sex parents are just as likely to be well-adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents." The Perry case makes many people anxious, but I am trying to be hopeful about the process and the outcome. And eventually, the majority will accept that gay men and lesbians are just as capable of caring for children as anyone else.
