Abstract
Children were often near the center of public debates about legal marriage recognition for same-sex couples. Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the case that resulted in legal same-sex marriage recognition, stressed the importance of these children as one of many factors compelling the opinion. Estimates indicated same-sex couples were raising 200,000 children in the United States. Children raised by same-sex couples may be politically socialized in distinct ways compared to children of different-sex couples because lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals tend to hold distinct and progressive political viewpoints on a wide variety of issues. What are the political attitudes of people with same-sex parents? In this exploratory study, we analyze a large, representative survey of first-year college students across the United States; we find few differences between people with same-sex and different-sex parents, and some of those differences may be attributable to households and respondent characteristics. When on the rare occasion a difference exists, we find that people with same-sex female parents are more progressive, but people with same-sex male parents are more conservative. Gender differences also emerged, with some distinctive patterns between males with same-sex parents and females with same-sex parents.
Highlights
On June 26, 2015, Justice Anthony Kennedy rendered the majority opinion in Obergefell v
People with SS female parents are less heterosexual, more female, more first generation, lower income, slightly older, less likely to racially self-identify as white and more likely to racially self-identify as black compared to people with DS parents
SS = same-sex; DS = different-sex. aDifference between people with SS female parents and people with SS male parents is significant at p < .05. bDifference between people with SS female parents and people with DS parents is significant at p < .05. cDifference between people with SS male parents and people with DS parents is significant at p
Summary
On June 26, 2015, Justice Anthony Kennedy rendered the majority opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges and in effect legally recognized marriages for same-sex (SS) couples across the United States. In his opinion and in oral arguments, Justice Kennedy seemed preoccupied by the sheer number of children being raised in SS households. It would only later come out how much the children mattered to him: “it just seemed to me. . .wrong under the constitution to say that over 100,000 adopted children of gay parents couldn’t have their parents married” [1]. It would only later come out how much the children mattered to him: “it just seemed to me. . .wrong under the constitution to say that over 100,000 adopted children of gay parents couldn’t have their parents married” [1].
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