Stanford Professor Defends Same-Sex Parents

DETROIT (AP) — A sociologist testifying Wednesday at Michigan's gay-marriage trial said children raised by same-sex parents suffer no handicap when compared to other kids. Michael Rosenfeld of Stanford University said "there is no basis" for believing that kids develop better in a household led by a man and a woman. "It's clear that being raised by same-sex parents is no disadvantage to children," he said, broadly summarizing research in the field. Rosenfeld testified on the second day of a trial challenging a 2004 Michigan constitutional amendment that recognizes marriage only between a man and a woman. Two Detroit-area nurses are asking a judge to overturn it, saying it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. In Texas, meanwhile, a federal judge said that state's gay-marriage ban is unconstitutional, although he gave officials time to appeal an injunction signed Wednesday. In Michigan, Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer are raising three adopted children at their Hazel Park home, but they're barred from jointly adopting them because same-sex couples can't marry in Michigan. Many questions at trial have focused on the well-being of children. State attorneys are defending the gay-marriage ban by saying voters wanted to encourage families led by a male and a female.

In March the judge issued a decision overturning Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage.

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