Honolulu Star-Bulletin Local News
Witness skeptical
of studies
showing
no difference in kids
Plaintiffs attorneys, from left, Evan Wolfson, Dan Foley and Kirk Cashmere
listen to state witness Brigham Young University Professor Richard
Williams during the third day of the same-sex marriage trial today.
Behind Cashmere, plaintiffs Joseph Melillo, left, and Tammy
Rodrigues sit in on the trial.
Associated Press Photo
A psychologist testifying
for the state
says the studies
are too small
By Linda Hosek
Star-Bulletin
Studies that show no difference between the children of homosexual and heterosexual parents may be flawed with incomplete conclusions, a state witness said this morning during the third day of the same-sex trial.
Richard Williams, a Brigham Young University psychology professor who analyzes research methods, said he reviewed nine studies on the subject, finding that authors selected participants largely through friendship networks and that the numbers were too small to generalize about the population.
He said one study that found no differences could have concluded that that children of lesbian parents were more likely to have considered and engaged in relations with lesbians and gays.
But Evan Wolfson, co-counsel for the three couples who sued the state for the right to marry, said after cross-examination Richards would concede that the studies show that gay and lesbian parents "are fit and that their children turn out just fine.
"All he can say is that the methodology is not as sound as he might like it," added Wolfson, also with Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc., in New York.
During yesterday's testimony, a state witness who opposes homosexuality said children would not benefit as much from living with married same-sex couples as they would living with their biological parents. David Eggebeen, a Pennsylvania State University sociology professor and demographer, yesterday said that same-sex parents were by definition stepparents. He said adding a stepparent through remarriage didn't remove the academic or behavioral risks for children of single parents.
The state must show Circuit Judge Kevin Chang that it has a reason compelling enough to justify the sex discrimination the state Supreme Court has identified in the state's marriage law.
Deputy Attorney General Rick Eichor said the state has an interest in encouraging the optimal conditions for a child's development and that children are best raised by their biological parents.
He said that Eggebeen showed that same-sex parents were at best stepparents and that "allowing same-sex couples to marry won't make a significant difference in creating the optimal conditions for children."
Eggebeen also said same-sex parents were less stable than opposite-sex parents and that biological parents treated their own children differently from those with no biological connection.
He cited Cinderella and her wicked stepmother, who favored her biological daughters.
But he also agreed that step, adoptive, foster, single and same-
sex parents can and do make good, loving parents.
Wolfson faulted Eggebeen's data regarding stability in same-sex relationships, saying the data were misconstrued from one study in the late 1970s.
He said marriage would encourage stability for children, adding that it made no sense for the state to oppose it.