So there are 500,000 children in foster care in America. Of those, 130,000 are available for adoption. Of those, 110,000 will not be placed in homes.
Why, then, is it illegal for a couple like Nick and I to adopt a child together in 24 states? Why is the law limiting the pool of potential parents?
A few months ago, my organization put on the first academic symposium about gay parents. All the research was presented. As it turns out, the children of gay parents are just like the children of straight parents. Nothing was different–except that children of gay parents were more open to diversity. Everyone always asks, “Well, are more of those children gay?” The answer is no. Nothing is different. The children of gay parents are doing wonderfully.
So, on one hand you have a group of millions of gay couples that would make wonderful parents–couples that can’t produce children on their own. On the other hand, you have hundreds of thousands of children that need homes. You do the math.
Laws banning gays from adopting are hurting children. It’s the sad truth. These anti-family laws are hurting children and costing tax payers millions and millions of dollars. It doesn’t make sense.
June 17, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I completly agree with this. I help out at a safe house in my hometown. Seeing the way children are treated in many homes makes me sick. We could make loving parents for these unfortunate children, but instead they are traded from home to home with people who don’t care at all.
Frankly, the law sucks.
June 22, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Yes this is incredibly sad and true. I think these children are more important than one’s bigoted, intolerant beliefs
If people could just be educated about homosexuality and know that its not a contagious disease!
There is no reason to ban gay marriage either because gays and lesbians have a right to non-discriminatory freedom as well as everyone else does, its in the constitution.
Some say that priests and pastors, etc. are exempt though because it goes against their moral fibers even though they follow a religion that says that even things that may be considered as “wrong” are not necessarily sin unless one believes it is wrong, gay couples wouldn’t get married if they believed it to be wrong and immoral.
August 17, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I am the gay parent to 5 girls that came from the foster care system. I find it hard to believe that I would not be able to care for them if I lived in states that would not allow it. I have dedicated my life to their wellbeing, education, love and care I am single and have done this on my own. I have take care of one of the girls for 8 years, one for 4 years, another for 2 years, and the last arrivals have been here for 1+ years. In the past 11 years I have taken care of over 20 children from the foster care system. I am no less capable that a straight parent. My sexuality has absolutly nothing to do with my ability to provide a loving supportive home. In a country that is supposted to be a leader, and protect human rights, how can the US be so hypocritical. They go after countries like China for human rights abuses, but what about the abuseses that take place right here? The leader of the FREE world right? and we still don’t have the right to marry in this country, still are treated as second class citizens. It makes me sick. But anyway for those states that don’t allow adoption of foster parents, I wish they could see my family. Then maybe it would make a difference.
August 20, 2010 at 7:26 am
Gay couples can have no unwanted children and can lovingly raise the unwanted children from straight pairing. You’re perfect child rearers, because you only have children when you really want them! Also, even if the research showed that more children of gay parents turned out gay, I wouldn’t say it was because more of them were actually gay. It would be because some of the children of straight parents elected to live a lie because they didn’t feel they had the support to be themselves.