Australia doesn’t currently have marriage equality. However, Australians will soon vote in a plebiscite — basically a type of survey — answering the question “Should the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry?” Though the vote is non-binding, it will provide the Australian government a look into the citizenry’s opinions on the matter.
An unnamed person or group is trying to sway the vote in Melbourne by putting up offensive posters. Twitter user Dan Leach-McGill shared one of the posters this weekend:
Spotted in Melbourne – Heffernan Lane. How is this for a unity moment? @TurnbullMalcolm @cityofmelbourne @AdamBandt @VicGovAu @abcnews pic.twitter.com/syL7vqRJLK
— Dan Leach-McGill (@DanLMcG) August 19, 2017
The poster has a picture of a small blond child sitting cross-legged on the floor. Two men brandish rainbow-colored belts before the child. The text above the child reads:
92% of children raised by Gay Parents are abused
51% have depression
72% are obese
STOP THE FAGS
In the lower right corner, the poster cites its source — an article from Depression Research and Treatment by D. Paul Sullins, entitled “Invisible Victims: Delayed Onset Depression among Adults with Same Sex Parents.”
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While the article does indeed include these statistics, the article itself has a number of problems. A number of letters to the editor of the journal pointed out various errors, including a too-small sample size, lack of discussion of other influences and a potential conflict of interest — the author is a Catholic priest.
A meta-study looking at 79 other studies, has shown that children raised by same-sex parents “fare no worse than other children.” The meta-study found that the four studies that concluded that there was a risk with same-sex parenting all shared the same flaw: A small, flawed sample-size. The study included many children not raised by same-sex parents. Instead, they were children with opposite-sex parents where one parent had come out as LGBT and left the family.
Polls show a majority of Australians plan to vote for marriage equality in the plebiscite. According to a poll by The Australian, Australia’s biggest-selling national paper, 63% of voters will vote “yes.”
Photo by dundanim via iStock
