The Scientific and Legal Recognition of Gay and Lesbian Parenting in France and the United States: How Law and Knowledge Influence Each Other

Judges and legislators across Europe and North America are considering legal reforms to recognize or ban the ability of same-sex couples to found families through adoption, surrogacy, and assisted reproductive technologies. To convince decision makers to decide in their favor, supporters and opponents of same-sex parenting rely on expertise that is available to them in each national context. Research about outcomes of children raised by gay and lesbian parents has become especially important because it is believed that such information justifies official parenting rights for this minority group. However, the quantity and quality of this research differs by country and impacts the ability of advocates and detractors of same-sex parenting to make their arguments. Drawing on observation of think tanks and 73 interviews with experts and lawmakers, this paper analyzes the field of research on same-sex parenting in France and the United States. It describes how researchers and lawmakers deal with a small and relatively new body of research in France and with a large and well-established literature in the United States. I find that the relative lack of French produced research limits the ability of advocates of same-sex parenting to effectively counter psychoanalytic and philosophical arguments against same-sex parenting. In the United State, however, the wealth of research has allowed supporters of gay families to mount successful legal battles but, as a result, has also significantly raised the political stakes of scientific research and the desire of social movements to directly impact the research process.