Of course, my default position, as all know, is freedom. I find these studies highly interesting from an academic and sociological point of view, but unless someone can show direct harm to a child from a certain upbringing, I’d give parents a lot of leeway.

Do you think it would be a better bet to make a study of the position of gays as compared to heterosexual couples in their specific locations? I’d gather that gay people tend to locate in like-minded communities – hardly ghettoes but instead places where they’re more likely to be accepted. The economic condition of those areas might be very different than many places in the United States, however.

David Friedman’s piece also touches on one of my biggest pet peeves — journalists who cannot accurately address both the findings and the limitations of scientific research. They routinely confuse correlation with causation, rarely consider potential flaws in studies, and largely draw their stories from the abstract of a study, not the full report. I think this researcher probably did a pretty decent job with the data she had, and in her own statements (that I’ve seen in other versions of the story) admits that the study is fairly limited. But of course, your typical journalist isn’t really well suited to analyzing scientific research, and so the conclusion is delivered as gospel far beyond the actual research supporting it.