http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060329-120349-7302r.htm
"An Arizona adoption bill that gives "priority" to married couples has set off protests about discrimination against homosexual and single parents.
The legislation, which has passed the Arizona House and is nearing a vote in the state Senate, is intended to get more abused, neglected and abandoned children into married, two-parent homes.
"All this says is, all other things being equal, if a married couple is willing to adopt, they ought to be given preference," Rep. Steve Tully, a lead sponsor of House Bill 2696, told the East Valley Tribune of Phoenix this week. "- Cheryl Wetzstein, The Washington Times, 29 Mar 2006
If you are gay and your motivation for adopting is not political but what is best for the children then why would you be offended when these children are offered what has long been established as their best possible option: a home with both a mother and a father? If it is, in fact, true that gays should be allowed to adopt because there are more children to be adopted than bi-gendered, two parent families seeking them, then why would a gay person assail this bill? Parenting is not an entitlement. It is a life-long commitment requiring a never-ending amount of love, sacrifice and humility. In cases such as this it appears to me that parenting has been lowered to the positon of status symbol. While some may assume that getting into a partnership establishes commitment and an understanding that sacrifice and humility are going to be part of that commitment, statistically that has not proven to be the case. Gay partnership is in a constant state of flux and even those few states which allow gay marriage are already experiencing gay divorce. Gay partner adoption is a relatively new issue. We have no long term research to show us if it is in fact a positive thing or not. What we do have is a plethora of poster family type stories of so called "unadoptable" children finding homes and glowing tales of gay family life in the present. However there are also alot of horror stories about things that have gone very wrong.. Quadruplets, who were born by surrogacy to two fathers and then separated when their "fathers" split up (http://www.intendedparents.com/News_2005/index.asp 15, aug. 2005); Sperm donor who was forced to pay child support for children (http://www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=2276&date=20051012) created with his sperm for lesbian partners who later split up and neither "mother" wanted the burden of provision for the children; Lesbian partner kills child (http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1603097/posts) etc. This is not to say that these things do not happen in the heterosexual community as well. However, again I must say.. the point of adoption is to raise the bar for these children not lengthen it to satisfy the "civil rights" of one specific section of society or to perpetuate the norm. - Nancy Stanfield Brown
Comments