Therapy Organizations Challenging Prop 8 Agree Quality of Parenting Is What Matters Not Gender

A group of leading organizations for marriage and family therapists and other mental health professionals from across the nation have filed an amicus brief challenging Proposition 8 in the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The therapy associations agree that what matters is the quality of the parenting, not the gender of the parents.

The 12 mental health professional organizations filing this brief representing tens of thousands of therapists, have come together for the first time in this effort. Their brief explains that the scientific research consistently shows that sexual orientation is not a factor in effective parenting, and children raised by parents of the same gender do as well as children of opposite gender parents, on any measure of adjustment or development, a fact which negates the primary argument by those who support Proposition 8.

In addition to the organizations filing the brief, other organizations such as the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association agree that there is no peer-reviewed research evidence to support the conclusion that different-gender couples provide a preferable environment for raising children as compared to same-gender couples.

The appellate attorney who wrote the brief, Ruel Walker of Oakland, commented, “The fact that psychological research agrees that a child is just as well off with same-gender parents as with different-gender parents might be surprising to many people.”

The brief concludes by saying that Proposition 8 was based on a false assumption that same-gender couples are inferior parents. The brief argues that the amendment ending lesbian and gay marriages in California is unconstitutional because it does not advance any legitimate purpose.

The brief says that the discriminatory treatment of same-sex couples would undoubtedly end some day, and it asks the judge to bring about that day sooner rather than later, “for the benefit of untold thousands of California families who long for it.”

The brief was written by Ruel Walker and Kelly Kay of the Law Offices of Ruel Walker in Oakland, CA. Mr. Walker is both an appellate attorney and a licensed marriage and family therapist.

The idea for the brief originated with Jim Walker, MFT, of Oakland, CA, who is a member of California Therapists for Marriage Equality, an advocacy group for this issue. “The magic of this particular brief, Jim Walker said, “is how 12 different organizations joined together for the first time supporting marriage and parenting equality.

Of the 12 organizations signing this particular amicus brief, the largest were the California Division of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, the California Association for Marriage and Family Therapists and four of its local chapters (in San Francisco, Los Angeles, the East Bay, and Marin County), and the American Family Therapy Academy.

Other professional psychological organizations joining the brief include Gaylesta (the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Psychotherapist Association of the SF Bay Area), LAGPA (the Lesbian and Gay Psychotherapy Association of Southern California), the Women’s Therapy Center of El Cerrito, CA, California Therapists for Marriage Equality, and the internationally known Gottman Institute of Seattle, Washington.

California Therapists for Marriage Equality formed in 2009 to advocate for support of marriage and family equality. CTME works to diminish homophobia and heterosexism in the counseling and psychotherapeutic communities with regard to marriage and parenting.

A member of CTME, and LAGPA, Lisa Maurel, MFT, a marriage and family therapist in Orange County, said, “The research cited in this brief demonstrates conclusively that denial of marriage equality for lesbian and gay parents actually harms the welfare of children of same gender parents, and deprives them of the protections that marriage affords the children of heterosexual parents.”

CTME has been educating therapists and mental health professionals that marriage equality is a mental health issue that needs the public support of the professionals who work with couples, families, groups and individuals.

A copy of the amicus brief is available for viewing at http://ct4me.org.