NOM celebrates the holidays by bashing LGBT families

Following the launch of GLAAD's 'Only Wish' holiday campaign, hundreds of LGBT families and their allies have contacted governors in the 34 states that don't yet recognize marriage equality, encouraging the lawmakers to support the love of all families.

That didn't sit too well with the so-called 'National Organization for Marriage' (NOM), which took to its blog on Tuesday to bash loving gay and lesbian parents and their children:

"[...] It is troubling that, this holiday season, the gay activist organization GLAAD is expressing its 'Only Wish' as creating a new normal where children will be deprived of the love of either a father or a mother on a regular basis, and indeed that this situation will be rewarded and incentivized by the government [...] For our part, we'll wish that folks continue waking up to the devastating reality of what a disservice redefining marriage does to men, women, and children, and to society as a whole.

Unfortunately for NOM though, psychological and medical experts disagree.

For almost a decade now, the American Psychological Association has said kids with loving gay and lesbian parents are no different than any other:

"On the basis of a remarkably consistent body of research on lesbian and gay parents and their children, the American Psychological Association (APA) and other health professional and scientific organizations have concluded that there is no scientific evidence that parenting effectiveness is related to parental sexual orientation. That is, lesbian and gay parents are as likely as heterosexual parents to provide supportive and healthy environments for their children. This body of research has shown that the adjustment, development and psychological well-being of children are unrelated to parental sexual orientation and that the children of lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish." (Emphasis added)

In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics -- the nation's foremost expert on the health, safety and well being of children -- not only agrees that children with gay and lesbian parents thrive just as well, but they also underline the importance of marriage equality:

“Children thrive in families that are stable and that provide permanent security, and the way we do that is through marriage,” said Benjamin Siegel, MD, FAAP, chair of the AAP Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health, and a co-author of the policy statement. “The AAP believes there should be equal opportunity for every couple to access the economic stability and federal supports provided to married couples to raise children.”

Other medical and psychological experts that think gay and lesbian people make great parents include the American Psychiatric Association, the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, the American Psychoanalytic Association, and the Child Welfare League of America -- just to name a few.

"That the so-called 'National Organization for Marriage' is spending its holiday season actively working to deny children a loving family is unconscionable," said GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz. "A growing majority of Americans agree that gay and lesbian parents should be able to protect their families equally.  Is it our 'Only Wish' this holiday season that every child should have the love, care, and attention of devoted parents? Yes. Does it matter if those parents are of the same-sex? Absolutely not."