In good fah? U.S. legal battle over gay adoptn tensifi | Rters

Contents:

• GAY ADOPTN: WHAT ARE MY OPTNS?
• GAY RIGHTS 50 YEARS ON: 10 WAYS WHICH THE UK HAS CHANGED
• AGENCI OBEY GAY ADOPTN L
• LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?
• PROCR FOR GAY COUPL LOOKG TO ADOPT
• LGBT ADOPTN: ARE GAYS ALLOWED TO ADOPT UNED STAT?
• GAY RIGHTS, RELIG EEDOM, AND THE BATTLE OVER ADOPTN
• KEY DAT FOR LBIAN, GAY, BI AND TRANS EQUALY
• IN GOOD FAH? U.S. LEGAL BATTLE OVER GAY ADOPTN TENSIFI

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.

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. 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.

GAY RIGHTS 50 YEARS ON: 10 WAYS WHICH THE UK HAS CHANGED

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. 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".

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.

AGENCI OBEY GAY ADOPTN L

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 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.

LGBT RIGHTS AI: WILL KENYA BE THE LATT TO PASS ANTI-GAY LAW?

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. He says: ‘I thk there is a perceptn for some the LGBTQ+ muny that is gog to be harr for them bee they are gay/bi/trans etc and I don’t believe that is the se. ‘The send one, and this has been the only isolated se we’ve experienced of homophobia, is that one girl our youngt son’s class at school told him that her mum said she uldn’t be his iend anymore bee he had ‘gay dads’.

PROCR FOR GAY COUPL LOOKG TO ADOPT

‘I thk is also important to not only thk about yourselv as beg part of the LGBTQ+ adoptn muny but jt beg part of the wir adopter muny – our kids particular aren’t bothered about spendg all their time wh “other two dad fai jt like them” – they’re ls worried about havg gay dads and more ncerned wh jt g to terms wh the stigma of “beg adopted”. In-pth rearch to the experienc of adoptive fai head by same-sex upl suggts that children adopted by gay or lbian upl are jt as likely to thrive as those adopted by heterosexual upl. This rearch volved the terview of children and young people wh lbian, gay and bisexual parents and found that very young children didn’t see their fay as beg any different to others.

Speakg durg the parliamentary bate the Hoe of Lords, Barons O’Catha said: "By extendg the tegory of would-be adopters to clu homosexual upl of both genrs and habg heterosexuals, I ntend that the Bill is now beg ed as an stment of social engeerg... And Cardal Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Catholic Church England and Wal, wrote to Cabet misters sayg Catholic adoptn agenci "would not be able to rec and nsir homosexual upl as potential adoptive parents. When the Equaly Act beme law April 2007 England, Wal and Stland, banned discrimatn agast homosexual people the provisn of goods and servic, which rporated adoptn agenci.

LGBT ADOPTN: ARE GAYS ALLOWED TO ADOPT UNED STAT?

The BBC's relig affairs rrponnt Robert Pigott said the Roman Catholic church nounced the regulatns, claimg the rights of one group - gay people - were beg placed above those of another - Christians.

Image source, Getty ImagIn the latt sign of risg homophobia different Ain untri, a Kenyan opposn MP is leadg a mpaign for parliament to further crimalise the untry's small LGBTQ muny.

GAY RIGHTS, RELIG EEDOM, AND THE BATTLE OVER ADOPTN

Gee Peter Kaluma's move after neighbourg Uganda adopted a tough new anti-gay law, rejectg threats by US Print Joe Bin to impose sanctns and travel rtrictns on "anyone volved ser human rights ab". "We want to prohib everythg to do wh homosexualy, " Mr Kaluma tells me, addg that his bill will be much broar than the legislatn passed by Uganda's parliament and approved by Print Yoweri Meveni May.

KEY DAT FOR LBIAN, GAY, BI AND TRANS EQUALY

The Ugandan law is regard as one of the harsht anti-LGBTQ laws the propos life imprisonment for anyone nvicted of homosexualy, and the ath penalty for so-lled aggravated s, which clu havg gay sex wh someone below the age of 18 or where someone be fected wh a life-long illns such as the other si of the ntent, MPs Ghana earlier this month unanimoly voted favour of amendments to the untry's anti-gay legislatn, phg closer to beg enacted to law. Though ls harsh than Uganda's new law, the Promotn of Proper Human Sexual Rights and Ghanaian Fay Valu Bill propos a three-year prison sentence for anyone who intifi as LGBTQ and a 10-year sentence for anyone who promot homosexualy.

"The bill will propose a total ban on what the Wt lls sex-reassignment prcriptns and procr, and prohib all activi that promote homosexualy, terms of... Gay sex is already illegal Kenya, but the ernment n also be tolerant of gay people - for example, has given asylum to people om other Ain untri, cludg Uganda, who faced persecutn their home untri bee of their sexual orientatn. Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, Many Kenyans believe that gay rights are agast their relign - whether Christian or MlimAlthough the meetg Uganda was billed as an attempt to protect the "sovereignty" of Ain stat, was actually -sponsored by an Amerin Christian right-wg anisatn, Fay Watch Internatnal (FWI) Kapya Kaoma, a Zambian prit the Anglin Church and an amic at Boston Universy the US, says Ain untri are beg targeted by FWI and siar US-based anisatns, and that the impact of s lobbyg has been "horrible and humane" parts of Ai, fuellg what he lls "ant homophobia".

IN GOOD FAH? U.S. LEGAL BATTLE OVER GAY ADOPTN TENSIFI

"It is one thg to say: 'I don't agree wh you beg gay', but we didn't have the ant one, where policians now are sayg: 'You go to jail for life, you go to jail for talkg about beg gay, you go to jail bee you're livg wh your fellow woman', " Dr Kaoma says. "It sensis children to sex, " she Slater also quot om the manual, cludg l which say that facilators of lsons should have "a ntral, acceptg attu towards homosexualy". The number of children adopted by lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) upl and dividuals has reached rerd highs over the last 12 months, wh over 480 children placed lovg stable hom the last year.

But the major groups ncerned wh children’s health do no oppose gay adoptns bee evince pots cisively that beg raised by same sex upl is not trimental to a child’s well beg. (The assertn that anizatns such a the Amerin Amy of Child and Adolcent Psychiatry, the Amerin Medil Associatn and the Natnal Associatn of Social Workers are eher timidated by or are the thralls of the “gay agenda” is spur. Generally, though, love, re, stabily, nurturance and rpect are enough for a succsful upbrgg, regardls of whether is provid by those blogil nnected, heterosexual or homosexual upl or sgle parents.