After Colorado Media Matters item, Denver Post published “clarification” about research on children of same-sex couples

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published

Following a Colorado Media Matters item critical of a Denver Post article about adoptions by same-sex couples, the Post published a clarification of its article. The original article quoted a Focus on the Family spokeswoman saying “research says children do best with a married mother and father”; the clarification stated that “other research finds that children also do well with gay parents.”

Following a November 16 Colorado Media Matters item critical of a Denver Post article about laws governing adoptions by same-sex couples, the Post on November 17 published a clarification of its article.

The original November 16 Post article -- “Court in Denver to rule on gay adoption” -- quoted Focus on the Family spokeswoman Carrie Earll asserting that "[t]he social science research says children do best with a married mother and father." Colorado Media Matters noted that the American Psychological Association (APA) concluded in a 2005 study of lesbian and gay parenting that "[n]ot a single study has found children of lesbian or gay parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents." The APA study also said that “the evidence to date suggests that home environments provided by lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to support and enable children's psychosocial growth.”

The Post's clarification, which appeared in its online edition appended to the end of the original article, noted that “other research finds that children also do well with gay parents.”

From the November 17 edition of The Denver Post:

CLARIFICATION: A story about same-sex adoption rights on Page 3A on Thursday quoted an official from Focus on the Family who said: “The social science research says children do best with a married mother and father.” However, other research finds that children also do well with gay parents, including a 2002 article in the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.