Imagine for a moment that you are the loving foster parent of a 10 year old boy that you’ve raised since infancy. You consider him your son and are willing and able to adopt this child and have also proven your competency to do just that. Homosexuals have always faced discrimination, mostly for religious purposes, and have been denied basic rights that are not denied to heterosexuals. The gay adoption process is very rigorous, including extensive home visits and interview of prospective parents.
It is designed to screen out those individuals who are not qualified to adopt or e foster parents, for whatever reason.All of the evidence shows that lesbians and gay men can and do make good parents. At the present time a lot of celebrities adopted children. For example: Elton John.
I think everyone knows him and he I of the famous singers in the world. Gay couples aren’t different from regular ones. They can also be good and loving parents. The children of gay couples will grow up with pluralistic views about human relationships and about diversity among them. Children can to accept and understand people that differ from everyone else, for certain reasons.
The adoption process is taking a lot of time, if a gay couple is patient enough and is willing a baby that much to go through the long process that means they will try their best to be good parents. Having different sexuality is not relevant to parenting, at all. The most important thing for an adopted child is to live with a family that needs him. Gay couples are able to give them as much love and attention as any other couples. Today, in America, there are thousands of children reported to be living in homes with at least one gay parent. In most cases, the partner of that gay parent is given no legal parental rights.
Should homosexual partners be allowed to adopt? Evidence on the effects of gay and straight parenting is very incomplete. With this lack of evidence proving that homosexual couples would be unfit parents for a child and that heterosexual couples could provide a superior home, there is no reason that gay adoption should be banned in any state. This is especially true considering that adoptive parents are subjected to various background checks including mental and financial stability. Sexual orientation does not affect the mental and financial situations of a couple and should therefore not affect their ability to adopt.
Only nine states allow openly gay couples to adopt in the same manor that of heterosexual couples. Some states have gay adoption but only in an indirect manner; one member of the couple may adopt a child and then the other member can file for joint adoption and become a “co-parent”. When a same-sex couple applies for joint adoption, they must receive approval from a judge which is not the case for heterosexual couples. While Florida is the only state that has an outright ban on gay marriage, due to a law passed in 1977, the rest of the states have indirect manner of not allowing gays to adopt.
They do not allow adoption by couples that are unmarried but if that state does not allow gay marriage then they also do not allow gay adoption. When parents began “coming out” and admitting their sexual preferences many lost custody of their children. This created the issue of who would be the legal guardian of their children because it was unacceptable to have gay parents. It was then in 1977 when Judge Donna Hitchens began an organization called The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) that had the rights of gay and lesbian parents in mind.Polls were issued statewide about controversial social topics, gay adoption included. In most states the outcome was roughly half and half for those against and for the issue.
In many cases, states that are considered Republican were more likely to have a higher percentage of opposition to homosexual’s right to adopt. This showed that the people more prone to oppose gay adoption were those that were older, more religious, less educated, non-Caucasian and politically conservative .Very little actual research has been done concerning the functionality of homosexual couples and families. In fact, the very first large scale gay adoption study was done in 2004, in the form of a survey of 183 gay families on the topic of family dynamics (Averett, Nalavany, and Scott 129-151). Though the study was in some ways flawed, such as the sampling of those surveyed, it showed that homosexual couples had longer term relationships than most heterosexual couples and that they had a high level of social support.A similar study done in 2005 showed that the 47 gay families in this new survey displayed the typical amount of strength as average heterosexual families.
When those who are opposed to gay adoption try to argue that homosexual couples are more likely to mistreat their adoptive children, they are implying that all heterosexual couples are not capable of the same thing. For instance, if African Americans were found to be more likely than Caucasians to mistreat their children, would all African Americans then be banned from adopting?The obvious answer to this is no ecause it would be entirely unconstitutional, as is the current ban on gay adoption. A parent’s sexual orientation makes no difference to their child’s development, just like a parent’s ethnicity has no baring either. Someone opposed to gay adoption may reply that children with gay parents are more likely to consider having a same sex partner in the future.
A major issue is the argument on homosexual adoption is that the focus has been placed on who is and who is not allowed to adopt, as opposed to the well-being of the children.The Children Welfare League of America has stated that, “Applicants should be assessed on the basis of their abilities to successfully parent a child needing family membership and not on their race, ethnicity or culture, income, age, marital status, religion, appearance, differing lifestyles, or sexual orientation. ” And continues with saying that applicants should be judged “on the basis of an individual assessment of their capacity to understand and meet the needs of a particular available child at the point of adoption and in the future” (Kreisher).Those against legalizing gay adoption are depriving kids of having loving parents that can provide them with a safe and stable home. Because there are so many homosexual couples in American that wish to adopt and there are also tens of thousands of children left in foster care every year, gay adoption can be seen as an untapped reservoir. Studies have shown that gays are more willing to adopt those that are less likely to be adopted.
For example, African American children and male children have a lower adoption rate, also, once any orphan reaches their teen years their chances of being adopted decreases substantially.Lisa Bennett, director of the Human Rights Campaign (HCR) has said that “So many gayand lesbian parents are adopting from the child welfare system. They are so interested in becoming parents tht they are willing to take children others are not. ” It is obvious that by banning gay adoption, there are much less people willing and able to adopt these less desirable orphan, If society holds a narrow opinion of who can adopt than they are in a sense leaving children without a loving home and family (Kreisher). Homosexuals are not depraved individuals; being gay is not a mental disorder.As such, they are considered fully functioning members of society.
They go to school, go to work, pay taxes, etc. There are no distinct qualifications for becoming a parent; however, most would suggest that a good parent possess the following characteristics: Responsible; Capable; Loving; Trustworthy; etc—none of which are exclusive to heterosexuals. So, if we can accept that homosexuals are for all intensive purposes equal to heterosexuals in their personalities and behavior then there is no good reason to deny them the right to have or adopt children.It would seem that whom one sleeps with is a personal choice that should have no bearing on their qualification for parenting.
As such, it would be wrong to deny gay couples the same parenting rights as other people in society. To do so would be to exhibit blatant homophobia, or the idea would be exposure; people need to see that gay people are just as competent as straight people in being good parents. Moreover, exposure to the homosexual lifestyle would decrease homophobia and other bigotry in general. 2.Parenting is in no way limited to be between a child’s biological mother and father. In fact, 1/3 of children in America are not raised in two-parent households.
Plus, the 2000 U. S. Census reports that 33% of lesbian couples, and 22% of gay male couples have at least one child under the age of 18 living in the home. These statistics show us that the norms of society are changing; many children are indeed being raised by single parents or non-biological parents, including gay couples.
Can would have the burden of proving that this is detrimental to these children and society at large.There are currently 16. 2 million double-orphans in the world today (children who have lost both of their parents). Rather than provide these millions of children with the opportunity to be raised in presumably loving and stable homes- as adoption agencies have criteria that applicant parents have to meet in order to be able to adopt-Con would rather have these children remain homeless and without families. Again, Con has the burden of proving that this is a better option than allowing gay parents to adopt.
Furthermore, even on a CBA (cost benefit analysis), it would be more appropriate for these orphans to be placed into homes, as they currently tax the state in order to care for these unfortunate children. As mentioned, previously over 1/3 of lesbian households (and more that 1/5 of gay households) already have children. “I am a well-adjusted heterosexual whose upbringing proves that love, not gender, makes a family… My family had strong family values. I was raised in a loving, caring household that let me be a free thinker…I’m tired of hearing that their family isn’t legitimate.
Others like Jesse share similar beliefs. I encourage Con to research children with gay parents online and read their stories; almost all of them contain POSTIVE feedback. The only ones that don’t are from children whose parents have come out of the closet later on in life; in other words, they pretended to be straight and married heterosexually until they could no longer live up to that lie. I posit that it would be most beneficial for everyone if people could be open and honest about their sexuality from the beginning.Allowing gays to marry and have (adopt) children are the first steps towards overcoming homophobia and discouraging this type of hurtful dishonesty.
“The vast consensus of all the studies shows that children of same-sex parents do as well as children whose parents are heterosexual in every way—In some ways children of same-sex parents actually may have advantages over other family structures—They did better in discipline, self-esteem, and had less psychosocial difficulties at home and at school. The same source also notes two other large studies finding that same-sex parents also had contact with extended family, social support, and had a more equitable division of labor in the home which led to a better up-bringing for the child. Children with lesbian or gay parents show more empathy for social diversity, and are less confined by gender stereotypes. Sexual orientation has no measurable effect on the quality of parent-child relationships oron the mental health of children.Additionally, the same study finds that there are in fact some advantages to an all-female parental team without Dad living in the home; a female couple tends to be more involved in the children’s lives and is in greater harmony in terms of parenting approaches. It has also been noted that daughters with lesbian mothers are more likely to reject gender stereotypes and take interest in things typically considered masculine, i.
e. sports and the fields of math and science.Gay tax paying, law abiding citizens have every right to adopt children the same way that heterosexuals enjoy this right. There is nothing that heterosexual parents can offer that homosexuals can’t, except for maybe a ‘traditional’ family.
However, nowhere is it cited that what is traditional is necessarily better; in some cases, studies show that it is the opposite. Moreover, what is traditional is subject to change, as norms in society are transient and determine tradition.Furthermore, there is nothing prohibiting gay couples to have children of their own (via surrogate mothers, artificial insemination, etc). So, it would be more beneficial to the children-which should be the number one priority- and the state to allow gay couples to adopt children and take in those who need good homes. Interviews with children with gay parents and studies alike both conclude that having homosexual parents is NOT detrimental to one’s well-being or mental health and stability. In fact, children with gay parents often Excel.
The resolution has been affirmed.
