April Martin

About the author: April Martin, a clinical psychologist, is the executive vice president of the Gay and Lesbian Parents Coalition International and the author of The Lesbian and Gay Parenting Handbook.

Gays and lesbians make excellent parents because their children are planned for and truly wanted. Studies show that children raised by gay and lesbian parents are as emotionally and socially healthy as children of heterosexual parents. Children of homosexual parents usually have no problem adjusting to their different lifestyle, and they are often more tolerant and open-minded than other children.

Lesbian and gay parents are not a new phenomenon. There are an estimated 5 million to 6 million of them in this country, most of whom became parents in the context of a heterosexual marriage before they...