This week the Supreme Court heard oral arguments challenging California’s same sex marriage ban (known as Prop 8) and the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal benefits to gay couples. One key issue that arose during Tuesday’s oral arguments was the question of children. “The voice of those children is important in this case, don’t you think?” Justice Anthony Kennedy asked Charles Cooper, the lawyer defending Proposition 8. There are nearly two million children being raised by gay parents, many of them in states that don’t allow same-sex marriage.
“Studies seem to indicate at least if there is a psychological impact it’s not really that huge,” psychiatrist Joshua Weiner said on Wednesday’s show. “What we see over and over again is that these kids seem to do as well as kids who are raised by heterosexual households.”
Dr. Weiner also debunked the idea that gay households are less stable than heterosexual ones. According to him, “only 56% of gay couples will end up separating or divorcing–which is roughly the same as that of heterosexual couples.”
The High Court ruling on both Prop 8 and DOMA is expected to come down around mid-June.
Abby Borovitz