His and his

A same sex couple from South Australia have used surrogacy to adopt twin boys from Thailand. Conventional wisdom once held that where possible, the best thing for children was for them to be raised by their biological parents. Numerous longitudinal sociological studies show this set of arrangements provides the best environment for children to grow up to become happy, well adjusted adults who are productive members of society.

Society at large also subscribed to the social ethic that having children was a very important responsibility. Conventional wisdom no longer applies these days. This is the age of rights and not responsibilities. The rights of the individual seem to be paramount, and must not be restricted in any way. As such, it now seems that having children is a right that must be given to anyone who demands it.

My reader might be wondering why any of this concerns me. Aren't other peoples' domestic arrangements and sexual preferences their own business? This upsets me because I am a twin. The last time I said I did not agree with same sex couples raising children, citing a widely publicized research study that was published in 2013, someone tried to tell me that children raised by same sex parents turn out just as well as those raised by opposite sex couples.

This study was not worth the paper it was printed on. Its author found his research sample by advertising for participants in a gay and lesbian magazine, and not a peer reviewed academic journal with proper scrutiny. These participants were also told beforehand what the purpose of the study was going to be. This meant that its findings were skewed by favourable self reporting from the participants.

The fact of the matter is that because same sex couples and parenting is a relatively recent phenomenon, there is not enough social science data available to determine how children of same same parents may turn out as adults. When this data is available, it will need to be analysed and allowed to speak for itself, free of any spin or political agendas. Until then, they will seemingly be unaware participants in a radical social experiment. 

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/south-australian-gay-couple-travel-to-thailand-for-birth-of-their-surrogate-twins/story-fnii5yv7-1226821437995