OPINION:LAST MONTH we
learned that a transgendered man in the US, Thomas Beatie, has been
impregnated by artificial insemination. He has been lauded for his
"selfless" act, while Oprah Winfrey hailed it as a triumph for
family diversity, writes
PATRICIA CASEY.
Asked how he will explain the conception and birth to his child, he says that he will tell her she is "daddy's little princess". Such tooth fairy explanations may satisfy her while she still believes that the stars are God's daisy chain, but does he have a considered explanation to offer when she is 12 or 18? If not, this little girl may struggle to grapple with her complex parentage and identity and the farthest reaches of family diversity that have begotten her.
We have been having our own family diversity debate here for a number of years, as a result of the dramatic increase in lone parenthood and cohabitation, the introduction of divorce and the rise in visibility of same-sex families. So the debate over same-sex adoption and civil unions is part of this overall debate about family diversity.
The family diversity argument has moved so far in this country that saying children need fathers and they need mothers, in a long-term stable union, is now considered controversial or meets with opprobrium, personal attacks and hate mail. In some countries, such as Canada, birth certificates have been redrafted to exclude mention of fathers and of mothers and replaced by phrases such as Parent A,B.
The issue of family diversity is dominated by two threads - nobody should be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation/ marital status, and children can be reared equally well in any family structure so long as they are loved. Flowing from this is the view that gender is a social construct, its fluidity divesting it of any sex-specific contributions to parenting; so any number and combination of the sexes can parent as well as two heterosexual people in a long-term relationship provided there is love.
If one sets store by the adult equality argument, then what matters is adult happiness and fulfilment. On the other hand, if one adheres to a child-centred approach, then the focus shifts to the primacy of the needs of children and to the optimum milieu for their upbringing. The question is, can the two be reconciled? And the answer is no.
The evidence that children, on average, do best when raised by their biological mothers and fathers in a long-term relationship is overwhelming. Marriage contributes greatly to relationship stability, while cohabitation is invariably unstable, on average lasting three years and with only 3 per cent lasting 10 years, according to UK figures. Ironically, one of the pressure points is the arrival of children.
In Ireland, the number of children living with lone parents is 21 per cent. Many do a superb job under very difficult circumstances. However, international research by investigators such as Linda Waite, Paul Amato and others has clearly demonstrated that, overall, children of one-parent families, be they the result of divorce or of single parenthood, are disadvantaged when compared to those of married couples, even when poverty is controlled.
Some of the vast array of evidence for this is summarised in Marriage from a child's perspective: How does family structure affect children, and what can we do about it? (June 2002), published by Child Trends, a major, pro-child, non-partisan group in the United States. It concluded: "Research clearly demonstrates that family structure matters for children and the family structure that helps most is a family headed by two biological parents in a low-conflict marriage. There is thus value in promoting strong, stable marriages between biological parents."
Other rich sources of data are contained in The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce by Judith Wallerstein, a psychologist, and much the same point has been made by Unicef.
Turning to same-sex parenting, a recent conference in Dublin heard from Prof Susan Golombok that children brought up by same-sex couples are no different from those parented by heterosexual parents.
However, in an editorial published in the British Medical Journal in 2002, she reiterated this but acknowledged that "a limitation of the existing body of research is that only small volunteer or convenience samples have been studied". These studies involve small numbers with little statistical power from which to draw any conclusions.
Steven Nock, a professor of sociology asked to review the methodology of the scientific literature on this subject for the attorney general of Canada, concluded that "the literature on this topic does not constitute a solid body of scientific evidence".
It was this consideration, among others, that led Mrs Justice Elizabeth Dunne to disallow the claim of Zappone and Gilligan to have their Canadian marriage recognised in Ireland in a case taken by them in 2007. This also led France, Australia, Portugal and other countries to exclude adoption from their civil partnership laws.
Our Government so far is opposed to gay adoption because it sees the value for children of having a married mother and father. That being so, it is surprising that the family form most favourable to children is not being incentivised. This is not to say that family forms falling outside marriage should not be given certain protections, but that they are being given all the benefits of marriage (excluding adoption) is illogical and demonstrates the Government's confusion about family structure.
For this reason, examining the approach of various countries to civil partnerships is illuminating, with some giving full marriage, eg Spain, while others offer some but not all the privileges of marriage, eg Germany.
Those charged with drafting our legislation should re-examine the limited partnership recommendations contained in the Colley report in light of this variability. There is a real danger in our rush to establish our "tolerant" and "egalitarian" credentials that we will overlook the fact that family form matters and that some policies need to be marriage-proofed.
Patricia Caseyis professor of psychiatry at University College Dublin and consultant psychiatrist at the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Dublin.