According to this news story in US News and World Report, USNews.com: more and more American children are growing up with same-sex parents. Gay families have arrived in suburban America, in small-town America, in Bible Belt America–in all corners of the country. According to the latest census data, there are now more than 160,000 families with two gay parents and roughly a quarter of a million children spread across some 96 percent of U.S. counties. That’s not counting the kids being raised by single gay parents, whose numbers are likely much higher–upwards of a million, by most estimates, though such households aren’t tracked.

This week, the commonwealth of Massachusetts will recharge the gay-marriage debate by becoming the first state to offer marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The move has raised the ire of conservatives who believe gay marriage tears at the fabric of society–and earned support from progressives who think gay men and lesbians deserve the same rights as heterosexuals. But the controversy is not simply over the bond between two men or two women; it’s about the very nature of the American family.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 17 May 2004
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.