The best interests of the child with a lesbian mother.

One concern of a court, with respect to the' 'best interests of the child," is the possible influence of a homosexual parent, usually the lesbian mother, on the sexual development of the child. The issue is whether having a homosexual parent increases the probability of a homosexual orientation by the child. Implicit in this concern is the belief that homosexuality is a second-best erotic orientation. This is not something I will debate here. It has been debated within psychiatry during and since the 1974 American Psychiatric Association referendum deleting homosexuality per se from its list of mental disorders. However, beginning with a presumption held by many that homosexuality is second best, I will address the issue of whether having one homosexual parent, or two homosexual adults in parenting roles, increases the probability of that outcome.