Numerous studies have shown that the children of female same-sex couples fare as well or better than children of different-sex couples, and numerous studies show the same for male same-sex couples — which is great news for anyone seeking reassurance (or scientific evidence) that LGBTQ+ parenting can create strong, resilient kids.
We’ve collected and summarized a handful of those studies below, mentioning the ones focused on female same-sex couples first, followed by ones covering male same-sex couples and LGBTQ+ parents in general. We hope they’ll provide a bit of encouragement and information for anyone seeking positive studies on LGBTQ+ parenting.
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Study finds that donor-conceived kids of lesbian moms are doing great
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The study, published in the April 2025 edition of Reproductive BioMedicine Online and conducted by researchers in Europe and the United States, took place over a period of two decades and found that donor-conceived offspring of lesbian parents grow up to be as well-adjusted as any other offspring.
The 21-year study tracked children who were conceived using anonymous donors, known donors, as well as open-identity donors (meaning contact is allowed when the child turns 18) through their early thirties. Results indicated that donor type did not affect mental health outcomes, that family stability is the key to reducing behavioral challenges, and that lesbian-parent families develop adaptive strategies to cope with societal discrimination against their family structure.
Study shows lesbian moms raise children just as healthy as mixed-gender parents
The study, published in the July 2018 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine and conducted by the Universities of California and Amsterdam, looked at 25-year-olds with sexual-minority parents and found that there were no significant differences in measures of mental health between those who were conceived through donor insemination and their peers who were naturally concieved or raised by heterosexual parents.
“These findings demonstrate that claims that it is harmful for children to be raised by same-sex couples are completely unfounded,” one researcher stated. “There is no justification to restrict child custody or placement, or access to reproductive technologies, based on the parents’ sexual orientation.”
Study confirms children of gay and lesbian parents are well-adjusted
An October 2016 study in the journal Developmental Psychology, conducted by the University of Kentucky, found that gay and lesbian parents are just as good at raising happy, healthy children as straight parents. The study was believed to be the first to follow children adopted by lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parents from early to middle childhood.
It found that children’s behavioral issues are not impacted by the sexual orientation of their parents, but rather by parenting stress and other child adjustment issues.
Children of gay dads are happier & healthier than the children of heterosexual parents
A study in the November 2023 issue of Family Process, conducted by European researchers, found that the children of gay dads conceived via surrogacy are happier and better-adjusted than the children of heterosexual couples conceived naturally.
The study also found that gay fathers had “more effective parenting styles, greater coparenting quality, and higher couple relationship satisfaction” as compared to heterosexual parents. But the study also found that families experience more problems the more anti-gay microaggressions they face in their communities.
Science proves LGBTQ+ parents raise better-adjusted kids
A study published in the March 2023 edition of the BMJ Global Health journal, conducted by Guangxi Medical University in China and Duke University in North Carolina, found that the children of same-sex couples fare as well as or better than their peers raised by heterosexual couples. The research identified 17 studies regarding children’s psychological adjustment and found that “a majority reported children of sexual minority parents were as likely as children of heterosexual parents to grow up healthy and well adjusted.”
On the topic of parent-child relationships, the authors examined six studies and found statistically significant effects, “indicating that sexual minority parent groups showed higher levels of parent–child relationship quality, such as higher levels of warmth, greater amounts of interaction, and more supportive behavior, when compared with the heterosexual parent groups.”
The study also suggested that the children of LGBTQ+ parents tend to hold more flexible attitudes regarding gender identity, gender roles, and sexual orientation than the children of heterosexual parents.
Kids raised by same-sex couples do better in school
The study, which was published in the Sepetmber 2020 edition of The American Sociological Review and conducted by Oxford University in England and Maastricht University in the Netherlands, looked at 3,000 children being raised by same-sex couples and over a million being raised by opposite-sex couples.
It found that kids of same-sex couples perform better than children raised by different-sex parents in both primary and secondary education and were also 4.8% more likely to graduate than those raised by different-sex couples.
While the researchers said that the socioeconomic status of same-sex couples played a factor in the educational outcomes — since some same-sex parents tend to be wealthier since many have to undergo fertility treatments, find a surrogate mother, or go through a lengthy adoption process to become parents — it found positive associations, even when the financial influence was factored out.
Study shows fewer psychological problems for children of same-sex couples
The research, published in the July 2018 edition of The Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics and conducted by Italy’s Sapienza University of Rome, found that children raised by gay and lesbian parents develop “psychological adjustment and prosocial behaviors” as well as those raised by straight parents.
The study included 125 lesbian women who gave birth using donor sperm, 70 gay men who had a child via surrogate, and 195 heterosexual couples. Overall, children of gay and lesbian couples showed fewer psychological problems than those of heterosexual couples, and girls tended to be more sociable than boys, regardless of the makeup of their families.
Children raised by same-sex couples happier, healthier
In this 2016 study, conducted by Australian researchers at the University of Melbourne, described as the largest study of its kind in the world, researchers surveyed 315 same-sex parents and 500 children about their physical health and social wellbeing. It found that in general, children of same-sex partnerships do just about the same as children of the general population on most health categories like “emotional behavior and physical functioning.”
The study found that children raised by same-sex partners scored an average of 6% higher than the general population on measures of general health and family cohesion, “even when controlling for a number of sociodemographic factors such as parent education and household income.”
One researcher said that same-sex couples also faced less pressure to fulfill traditional gender roles, which led to more harmonious households.
Do same-sex couples make good parents?
Parenting has never been one-size-fits-all, and these studies prove it. From better school outcomes to higher family cohesion, the data repeatedly shows that same-sex couples are raising kids who thrive. This research challenges outdated assumptions, pushing back against anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, and validating the lived realities of queer families everywhere.
Whether you’re navigating adoption, donor conception, surrogacy, or simply seeking reassurance, this body of research affirms what countless LGBTQ+ parents already know: Love, stability, and support make a family, not the gender or sexuality of the people raising the child.
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