Fight For Adoption, Give Me a Good Reason Why We Can't!

Many gay and lesbian people are choosing to become parents. Some bring children from past relationships or some impregnate themselves using artificial insemination. Others prefer adoption to be their method of having a child. State laws vary on adoption rights, not every gay and lesbian person has the same ability to adopt.

Only Vermont, New Jersey, Massachusetts and California permit same sex couple adoption. Some states permit single people to adopt, others discourage it. Because gays are not allowed to marry, it can be hard for gay people to adopt a child in those states. Thankfully, because New Jersey and Vermont have civil unions, both parents have equal rights in adoption cases.

Florida prohibits gays from adopting. In 1977 Anita Bryant led a statewide campaign to overthrow Dade county’s gay rights law. She proposed that gays and lesbians were child-molesters, she convinced the senators to vote for a ban on gay adoptions. The law has been challenged many times, but only unsuccessful results ensue. There is a current lawsuit challenging the law. The focus, a Florida couple who wants to adopt several foster children they have been raising for years.

FOR

• The United States has a surplus of children waiting to be adopted. It is unfair to keep these children out of a home when there are gay and lesbian couples all over the nation willing to take the children.
  
• Surprisingly most children in America don't live with two married parents. In fact, according to the 2000 census, only 24% homes were composed of a married mother and father with children living at home. The Florida court argues that children are better off raised in a two-parent heterosexual household. On the contrary, scientific studies have shown that children who grow up in one or two-parent gay or lesbian households fare just as well emotionally and socially as children whose parents are heterosexual.
• Studies have shown that children are more influenced by their interactions with their parents, rather than by their sexual orientation.
  
• If a couple has a child through artificial insemination, only the birth parent is counted as the "legal guardian". Through second-parent adoption, both parents can obtain legal custody of the child. In the states that do not allow second-parent adoption, if the "legal" parent dies, the "secondary" parent, even if they have been raising the child for years, can be seen as a total stranger in the eyes of the law. The child may also not be eligible for the "secondary" parent’s health insurance, social security or other insurance if that parent dies. This is only going to hurt the child.

AGAINST

• Florida argues that it has the right ban gay adoptions because, it is the state’s way of saying it disapproves of gay and lesbians becoming parents.
  
• The Florida court argues that children are better off in homes with a mother and a father who are married.
  
• Some opponents argue that children of gay and lesbian parents will be subject to harassment and ridicule.

Hopefully this case is won and homosexuals gain another win towards their "battle" for equality across America.

More Information/Sources:
Belge, Kathy. “Lesbian and Gay Adoption Rights” Lesbian Life. 26 April 2007