Much brooding over parenthood

Re “Fathers in the Making,” three-part series, Oct. 29-31

I am an openly gay man who embraces the idea of gay men and women having children. I also have no moral concerns about the fertilization techniques described in your story. My only question is, in a world with millions of orphaned children, and in a society in which good medical care is not available for millions of poor and working Americans, is this how we spend our resources? Is this like the people who pay thousands of dollars for exotic purebred puppies while millions of stray dogs are euthanized? I don’t know, but I think you should be asking the question.

LARRY KAPLAN

Los Angeles

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Gay couples can certainly be loving, nurturing parents to a child who will thrive and blossom from the unconditional love received, and just for being himself (or herself). Narcissists -- either gay or straight -- who need to design a baby with the “right” DNA , the right genes for beauty and talent, are not really good parent material. It’s unfortunate when technology emerges so far in advance of ethics.

JOAN COHAN

Los Angeles

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“A lot of people in much worse environments raise children, and they don’t all turn out to be ax murderers.” There we have a justification based not upon whether something is best for a child but whether it is not as bad.

I would hazard a guess that if a child were asked, assuming the best possible of all combinations of parents, whether he or she would prefer two moms, two dads, or a mom and a dad, all would prefer the last.

While I do not feel that society should legislate away the rights of gays and lesbians to become biological parents, and while I concur that gay parents are not worse than what I have seen out there, I refuse to acknowledge that such families can reach the heights that can be realized by a man and a woman in love with each other.

THOMAS IMPELLUSO

San Diego

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Re “Do children of gay parents develop differently?” Oct. 30

The Times almost wrote a truly objective article about the results and, more important, the concerns scientific investigators have expressed regarding gay parenting research. But then The Times gives equal weight to a report by a fundamentalist religious organization.

It claims that research that supports gay parenting is compromised by researchers’ sexual orientation. And then, as if to prove that a mother and a father are the “best way for children to be raised,” it argues that this has been established by “accumulated wisdom” from “time immemorial.” This definitely has the ring of a sermon. BARRY SIMON

Studio City

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Of course children of gay parents don’t develop differently. Let’s face it: If it were true, then the opposite would also have to be true, and it isn’t. After all, we gay and lesbian Americans came from heterosexual couples. Did we turn out straight?

BRUCE WILLIAMS

Los Angeles