Regression to the Mean
The state Senate Judiciary Committee’s calendar this week features SB3910, a retrograde piece of legislation that bans adoption not just by same-sex couples, but by any couples who are engaged in “unmarried sexual cohabitation.” The bill defines cohabitation as “residing with another person and being involved in a sexual relationship with that person.” So let me get this straight: If you live with someone you hate you can adopt, but if you live with someone you like a lot you can’t. With more kids needing homes than homes wanting kids, that certainly sounds like winning public policy.
But let’s be honest: This bill is less about marriage or cohabitation than about bigotry and homophobia. Currently all but five states allow same-sex adoption, and it’s apparent that millions of gay parents are successfully caring for millions of children in this country. Despite a lack of evidence that LGBT parenting harms children, we still see groups pushing the measure, such as David Fowler’s Family Action Council of Tennessee, asserting without foundation that “same-sex homes are much more likely to expose children to instability, insecurity and violence.” The American Academy of Pediatrics (a subversive group if ever there was one) couldn’t put it more plainly: “Children with parents who are homosexual have the same advantages and the same expectations for health, adjustment and development as children whose parents are heterosexual.”
It’s worth adding that most adoption agencies accept applications from homosexuals, and a clear majority of Americans agree that gay and lesbian couples should have the legal right to adopt children. SB3910 is the religious right’s favorite kind of legislation: a reckless solution in search of a nonexistent problem.
Comments
bb--
I agree that this is just plain wrong. I will throw in one small caveat: I would guess -- but I'm not looking up any stats to back this up :) -- that your average unmarried couple -- gay or straight -- is somewhat more likely to break up than your average married couple is to divorce, simply because there's no legal encumbrance to breaking up. Which would lead to a later mess when kids are involved.
In addition, it is more complex, if it's actually possible, to equally confer parenting rights on two unmarried [albeit committed] individuals -- just as it's legally difficult for an unmarried couple to ensure they have rights of inheritance, to visit each other in the hospital, etc.
I can therefore give you a decent reason why we SHOULDN'T let unmarried couples adopt.
However.
What they've come up with in the legislature ISN'T a decent reason. And more importantly, there are how many thousand children now in state custody, awaiting adoptive families? What is truly the greater evil here?? So I say, ANY barriers we're putting in front of these children finding loving homes are simply unconscionable.
[Caveat, make of it what you will: I adopted my son as a single mom.]
Posted 04/09/2008 at 10:26:31 PM