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(New York City) More gay dads are staying at home to raise children than stay-at-home heterosexual or lesbian parents according to new analysis of the latest census returns.
The Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, randomly selected the returns of 9,328 same-sex couples with children. It discovered that 26 percent of the male couples included a stay-at-home parent.
That is 1 percentage point higher than for heterosexually married couples with children and 4 percentage points higher than for female couples, said Gary Gates, a demographer who performed the analysis for the New York Times.
The study also found that being a stay-at-home gay parent comes at a cost. Same-sex couples with a stay-at-home parent are doing this even though census figures show that their median household income, $35,000, is lower than the $45,000 for a heterosexual married couple with a stay-at-home parent, the analysis shows.
To some gay men, the idea of entrusting the care of a hard-won child to someone else seems to defeat the purpose of parenthood, the Times reports.
"I wanted the kids to bond with us," Mike Farina told the paper. Farina, 40, left his job as an engineer in Anaheim after adopting twins with his partner in 1998.
"I didn't want any help. "In those first few years, I didn't even get baby-sitters. I thought, 'That's my job.' "
Today the couple has four children.
©365Gay.com® 2004
