Every child needs both a mother and a father

MARIANNE MACDONALD (Irish Examiner letters, February 28) pours cold water on Hermann Kelly’s assertion (February 22) that research shows “the best and safest environment for the upbringing of a child is in a stable natural family based on marriage”.

She claims “research conducted since the 1970s has consistently demonstrated that children brought up in gay families fare no worse than those brought up in straight ones”. In other words, Ms MacDonald is saying that neither a father nor a mother is essential in the upbringing of a child.

According to her, the father can be replaced by another mother or the mother can be replaced by another father and the child will “fare no worse”. She goes on to suggest it may even be beneficial for the child to have two mothers and no father or two fathers and no mother.