In a blow to one argument against the legalization of gay marriages, one study says that children raised by lesbian parents perform better in school and are happier in life.

The article, published in the Journal of Homosexuality, is entitled "Adolescents with Lesbian Mothers Describe Their Own Lives". The empirical data was collected by the Williams Institute from the University of California, Los Angeles, and received information from 78 children. The study followed adolescents during a 26-year time period.

The study found that 17-year-old high school students raised by lesbian parents performed far better in school than the average, with high school GPAs ranging from A-minus to B-plus. An overwhelming majority of the children described having great relationships with their mothers, whom they admired.

Nanette Gartrell said to CBS that, among these self-selecting children, the children were all planned, which seems to have made an enormous difference and the scholastic aptitude and overall well-being of these adolescents. She says, "As a psychiatrist, I can say that these are the types of child-rearing outcomes that every parent hopes for."

The teenagers said that they had close friends who made them feel comfortable about sharing the sexual preference of their parents. One of the 38 adolescent boys tracked by the study wrote, "They [his mothers] teach me to be accepting of all people on this earth, no matter what differences they may have."

The teens were also asked to rank their feeling of overall well-being. In a scale in which the highest number was 10, the average score of the adolescents was an 8.14.

Empirical data can hardly be counted as a scientific study, and the sample size was fairly small, though statistically sound. It is also unclear whether researchers controlled for confounding factors, like age and socioeconomic status. Further studies will need to be conducted and will likely be conducted on this hot-button issue.

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