Bra's Gay Adoptn Debate | HuffPost Latt News

Contents:

• GAY ADOPTN: WHAT ARE MY OPTNS?
• GAY ADOPTN: TE STORI
• LBIAN AND GAY FOSTERG AND ADOPTN : EXTRAORDARY YET ORDARY
• BRA'S GAY ADOPTN DEBATE
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI

GAY ADOPTN: WHAT ARE MY OPTNS?

The CoramBAAF Bookshop has a range of books for parents and children themed around adoptn and fosterg, wh a specific topic area for lbian and gay fai.

We remend the followg books about gay parentg and adoptn to broan your unrstandg of adoptn and grow your unrstandg of the needs of children wag. Prentg a llectn of personal acunts of lbian and gay parents om many different social and ethnic backgrounds, is signed to dispel misnceptns and enurage gay men and lbians who are thkg about adoptg or fosterg children.

Siarly, if a gay uple choos IVF wh one of their sperm, then the donor om that uple is only the legal parent if the birth mother is NOT married or a civil partnership.

GAY ADOPTN: TE STORI

Approval fell the 1980s when the Aids crisis and the troductn of sectn 28 - a law prohibg the promotn or teachg of homosexualy schools - uld have swayed public opn acrdg to NatCen, the thk tank which ns the a steady and rapid rise om the early 1990s reflects a wir trend of social liberalisatn, somethg also seen changg attus to pre-maral sex. Approval of pre-maral sex grew ially among the young - as they got olr they retaed that belief, and soon both old and young were more liberal on the same-sex relatnships the shift attu has been quicker - not only did young people wh liberal views get olr, but olr people changed their mds, might part be bee chang the law, such as the legalisatn of civil partnerships and then gay marriage, have a powerful fluence on people's views, a NatCen spokman suggts. For example, gay sex remaed illegal Stland and Northern Ireland until 1982 while transgenr people weren't protected equaly legislatn until 2010.

1967 - Sex between two men over 21 and " private" is crimalised1980 - Decrimalisatn Stland1982 - Decrimalisatn Northern Ireland1994 - The age of nsent for two male partners is lowered to 182000 - The ban on gay and bisexual people servg the armed forc is lifted; the age of nsent is equalised for same- and oppose-sex partners at 162002 - Same-sex upl are given equal rights when to adoptn2003 - Gross cency is removed as an offence2004 - A law allowg civil partnerships is passed2007 - Discrimatn on the basis of sexual orientatn is banned2010 - Genr reassignment is add as a protected characteristic equaly legislatn2014 - Gay marriage be legal England, Wal and Stland3. Those keen to crimalise any public displays of nsensual homosexual activy still had tools to do so through the offence of "gross cency", which had a broad terpretatn. Prosecutns were far more mon until the 1990s but have tailed off sce, partly bee of social attus to gay relatnships, says Kate Goold, a solicor at Bdmans.

LBIAN AND GAY FOSTERG AND ADOPTN : EXTRAORDARY YET ORDARY

Government has attempted to redrs this legacyGiven this legacy of crimalisatn, the ernment troduced a scheme October 2012 allowg those prosecuted unr funct gay-sex-related laws, to have their nvictns removed om police and urt Home Office timat that there were about 50, 000 such offenc rerd on the system om the 1950s until of the 50, 000, only an timated 16, 000 are for people who are still livg and so able to all of the 16, 000 offenc are eligible to be "disregard".

BRA'S GAY ADOPTN DEBATE

Rerdg of homophobic hate crim has risenA steep rise homophobic hate crim has been rerd over the past five years, but this is thought to be large part down to an crease people reportg cints rather than a genue rise crime. The Natnal Police Chiefs Council's lead on homophobic crim, Assistant Chief Constable Mark Haton, says: "Tradnally, homophobic hate crime has been signifintly unr-reported and we do not believe that current statistics accurately reflect actual levels of abe.

It's strikg that people aged 16-24 are more than five tim more likely than those aged over 65 to intify as gay, lbian or Office for Natnal Statistics keeps rerds of people who intify themselv as gay, lbian or bisexual - 1.

This is likely to unrtimate the real numbers as the survey don't pture sexual attractn or 2005 the ernment tried to timate the size of the lbian, gay and bisexual populatn and me up wh a larger number - 5-7% of the populatn.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

Gay people say they feel ls happy than their straight peersPeople who intify as gay, lbian and bisexual report lower levels of well-beg than heterosexuals the ONS looks at happs, life satisfactn, and the extent to which people feel their life is worthwhile.

Gay and lbian people report higher levels of anxiety than straight people, but bisexual people are even more likely to suffer om the lbian, gay and bisexual people are also more likely to suffer om suicidal thoughts than their straight iends, acrdg to a 2014 survey by LGBT support chary Metro.

Same-sex upl have gaed equal marriage rightsCivil partnerships were legalised 2004 throughout the Uned Kgdom, wh the first ceremoni takg place at the end of the followg 140, 000 people entered to civil partnerships between 2005 and 2015, the last year for which figur are the UK, gay and lbian upl were granted many of the same rights as married heterosexuals, albe wh a few differenc around issu like private-sector meant that upl uld no longer be kept out of hospal rooms when their partner was sick, they would no longer lose their home or bs bee of tax laws, and they had parental rights over marriage was legalised a later, wh the first ceremoni takg place England, Wal and Stland 2014. The Netherlands changed the law first marriage is now legal 22 untri worldwi, acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA). Countri where gay marriage is legal2010 Iceland, Portugal, Argenta2013 Uguay, New Zealand, France, Brazil2014 UK (excludg Northern Ireland)2015 Luxembourg, Ireland, Mexi, USAA further 28 untri guarantee some civil-partnership regnn acrdg to ILGA.

Beg gay is still crimalised many parts of the worldBra is markg 50 years sce the partial crimalisatn of homosexualy but same-sex relatns are still illegal across vast swath of the world. Ined, lbian and gay people disproportnately adopt those harst to place, cludg olr children, children wh disabili and children wh emotnal difficulti. It is also the se that the adoptns rarely break down, and there is evince of healthy and happy out for the fact, I n remember some circumstanc where I'd say was preferable for a child to be placed a gay or lbian hoehold.

A lbian uple rose to the challenge and the rult was the emergence of a child wh hope for the future, agast all his gripe agast the forthg Equaly Act (which will mand that Catholic adoptn agenci nsir gay upl as prospective adoptive parents), Cardal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has foced on the petg rights between Catholics and their personal nscience and of particular groups such as gay and lbians. Unls Catholic adoptn agenci are exempted om havg to let gay upl pass through their doors, he says they may be forced to close down rather than "act agast their nscienc" if you look at the make-up of Catholic adoptn agenci, which acunted for 4 per cent of the 2, 900 UK adoptns last year, you'll often fd a signifint proportn of staff who are not Catholic, perhaps not even relig. After all, while the Equaly Act, due to e to effect England, Wal and Stland April, outlaws discrimatn the provisn of goods, facili and servic on the basis of sexual orientatn, no gay uple their right md would seek the servic of a Catholic adoptn agency, given the church's views on the issue of homosexualy.