Psychoanalysts Support Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage

Psychoanalysts Support Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage

Author : American Psychoanalytic Association
Category : PressRelease
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NEW YORK, March 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Psychoanalytic Association (APsaA) has issued a position statement supporting the legal recognition of same-sex civil marriage while opposing discrimination against same-sex couples. In recognition that gay and lesbian couples are raising children and possess the same potential and desire for life-long relationships as their heterosexual counterparts, the APsaA seeks to assist in ending the government-sanctioned discrimination against homosexual couples that denies them over 1,000 federal rights and benefits. For full text of the APsaA Marriage Resolution, please visit:
http://www.apsa.org/ABOUTAPSAA/POSITIONSTATEMENTS/MARRIAGERESOLUTION/tabid /470/Default.aspx
"We want people to think about the broad impact the denial of same-sex marriage has on Americans today," says Ethan Grumbach, Ph.D., chair of APsaA's Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues. "Families exist in many different ways and it is important for same-sex couples to have legal and societal recognition of their unions for themselves, their children, and their extended families."
APsaA's Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues reviewed extensive research on homosexual relationships and gay and lesbian parents and their children prior to issuing this statement in January 2008. Some relevant statistics and research results are:
-- The Kaiser Family Foundation Survey of 2001 found that 68 percent of lesbians and gays considered lesbian and gay marriage to be very important and 25 percent considered it to be somewhat important.
-- According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 34 percent of cohabitating female couples and 22 percent of male couples were raising children under the age of 18.
-- In a 2006 paper, Charlotte Patterson concluded, "Results of the research (of various population samples of lesbian and gay families) suggest that qualities of family relationships are more tightly linked with child (development) outcomes than is parental sexual orientation."
"Gay and lesbian couples are being denied the right to marry in this country on the basis of false scientific testimony," says Gary Grossman, Ph.D., member and former chair of APsaA's Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues. "As experts on emotional experience, the membership of the American Psychoanalytic Association has an obligation to clarify its position that same-sex marriage offers substantial mental health benefits for the nation's gays and lesbians and their loved ones, and the denial of marriage has psychologically detrimental consequences."
In addition, APsaA's Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues is currently developing a proposed position statement on the United States' military policy of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
The American Psychoanalytic Association is a professional organization of psychoanalysts throughout the United States and is comprised of approximately 3,500 members. Visit http://www.apsa.org/ for more information.
American Psychoanalytic Association