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

Contents:

• IN GOOD FAH? U.S. LEGAL BATTLE OVER GAY ADOPTN TENSIFI
• GALLUP FIRST POLLED ON GAY ISSU '77. WHAT HAS CHANGED?
• OUR PARENTS ARE GAY. ARE OUR FAI GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE SUPREME COURT?
• WHAT MAK A FAY? A CLOSER LOOK AT GAY ADOPTN
• SHOULD GAY UPL HAVE THE SAME ADOPTN RIGHTS AS STRAIGHT UPL?
• POLL: ATTUS TOWARD GAYS CHANGG FAST
• A DEBATE OVER GAY ADOPTN AND FOSTERG
• RSIA ENACTS ANTI-GAY ADOPTN BAN

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

Overall, support has shifted om a clear majory the 1990s sayg same-sex or homosexual upl should not be legally permted to adopt children to the oppose now.

GALLUP FIRST POLLED ON GAY ISSU '77. WHAT HAS CHANGED?

Acrdg to an expert public policy related to lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr people, Gary Gat of the Williams Instute at the UCLA School of Law, this is not unual. While popular support for same-sex adoptn is outpacg approval of gay marriage, Gat not that even lser forms of relatnship regnn -- such as civil unns and domtic partnerships -- have clud the right for same-sex upl to jotly adopt children. In other words, Amerins have reached nsens faster about same-sex upl adoptg children than about support for gay marriage the last 20 years.

Methodology: Total sample size for the survey was 3, 721 US adults, cludg 169 dividuals who self-intify as gay or lbian, and 149 US adults who self-intify as bisexual. “It’s hurtful that they’re willg to work wh me for immigratn expertise, but somehow still thk I’m aquate as a person to take re of a child, ” said Marouf - one of two gay upl sug the U.

OUR PARENTS ARE GAY. ARE OUR FAI GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE SUPREME COURT?

Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the Department did not ment on pendg natn’s top urt is set to wa to the latg nflict between gay rights and relig eedom as s next term startg October, the U.

”FOSTER PARENTSAdvot fear excludg LGBT+ upl om adoptn or foster re uld lim the number of potential hom for needy children, particularly given gay men and lbians are far more likely to adopt and foster children than their straight 400, 000 children are foster re the Uned Stat, about a quarter of whom are wag to be adopted, acrdg to U. ”LGBT+ rights groups argue that is illegal for relig groups that receive taxpayer-fund grants to ny equal rights to prospective gay parents. Supreme Court legalized gay marriage natnwi 2015, while a seri of subsequent urt lgs have ma adoptn by same-sex upl legal all 50 LGBT+ parents ntue to face wispread discrimatn when to adoptg or raisg children.

A 2019 study om Tufts Medil Center found that almost two-thirds of gay fathers the Uned Stat experience stigma as homosexual dads, most often relig a 2015 Universy of Oregon survey of 19, 000 studi related to same-sex parentg found that children raised by gay and lbian upl were no different than those raised by parents of the oppose relig groups, the qutn is not whether gay men and lbians are f to be parents, but rather their relig objectn to homosexual unns the first place. Gay rights movement was still s fancy, and openly gay polician Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francis Board of Supervisors.

WHAT MAK A FAY? A CLOSER LOOK AT GAY ADOPTN

Gay rights activists at the time enjoyed momentum om the 1969 rts at Stonewall Inn New York Cy -- an uprisg agast police raids on gay bars, the 50th anniversary of which the LGBT muny celebrat this month -- and had not yet endured the AIDS crisis that would later kill many LGBT people.

But while the movement was young and hopeful at the time, Amerins held very different views about gay people than they do today. Amerins were evenly spl on the qutn of whether gay and lbian relatns between nsentg adults should be legal (43%) or illegal (43%). Today, nearly all Amerins (93%) say gay people should have equal employment opportuni, whereas a small majory (56%) felt this way 1977, when was a hot issue state and lol polics.

SHOULD GAY UPL HAVE THE SAME ADOPTN RIGHTS AS STRAIGHT UPL?

That year, the anti-gay Save Our Children mpaign was lnched by sger Ana Bryant, who ed her celebry to advote agast lol ordanc banng discrimatn agast gay people employment. Most said gay people should be hired as salpeople (68%) and about half said gay people should be allowed to the armed forc (51%).

But mori of Amerins felt that gay people should be hired as doctors (44%) or clergy (36%), and jt 27% said gay people should be hired as elementary school teachers. Today, eight 10 or more Amerins support hirg gay people for each of the jobs -- wh the exceptn of clergy, which 72% say is a profsn gay people should be nsired for. Over this time as well, and Amerins' views on the issu have unrgone some of the most dramatic shifts public opn -- cludg gay marriage, which hardly even registered as a goal for gay rights activists of the 1970s.

Supreme Court is preparg to hear s of employment discrimatn and will ci whether a feral civil rights law appli to gay and transgenr people. But the gay slurs, hostile glar, and bullyg paled parison wh the realizatn that our ernment did not stand behd and our fai—forbiddg marriage and curbg parental rights, passg state nstutnal amendments exprsly nyg our parents equal protectn, and even crimalizg their sexual relatnships.

POLL: ATTUS TOWARD GAYS CHANGG FAST

On October 14, the Uned Stat Supreme Court cled to review a challenge by the Liberty Counsel about the Florida Bar’s amic brief support of Mart Gill, a gay man who sought to adopt his two foster children. But Gill isn’t a typil prospective parent the ey of feral law–he is a gay man seekg to adopt Florida, the only state the untry that has an outright ban on adoptg to homosexual parents.

A DEBATE OVER GAY ADOPTN AND FOSTERG

Child psychology experts ttified that there was no scientific evince that would support the state’s ban on gay adoptn, and that would be the children’s bt terts if they stayed wh Gill and his partner. When Judge Lerman led the state ban unnstutnal and granted adoptn rights to Gill, the se was seen as a huge tone for gay and lbian prospective parents Florida, and for LGBT rights activists worldwi. A recent survey showed that there are 250, 000 children the Uned Stat livg wh gay and lbian parents, acrdg to Lambda Legal, a natnal anizatn dited to protectg the rights of the LGBT muny as well as those wh AIDS and HIV.

They were among the first adoptn s a Dallas-based agency where the birth parent requted a gay adoptive parent for her child. Compare the figur to a 2005 CBS/New York Tim poll, where only 23% of terviewe believed that gays should marry, and 41% said that there should be no legal regnn of gay upl. Donaldson Adoptn Instute’s David Brodzsky, 60% of more than 300 public and private agenci natnwi were willg to accept applitns om gay and lbian parents a 2003 study he nducted.

Brodzsky says that 15% of the agenci he studied took “active steps” to rec gay and lbian parents, and over a third ma placements. The day before the Milanos me to the agency, a birth mother had walked wh a special requt; she wanted her baby to be adopted by gay parents.

RSIA ENACTS ANTI-GAY ADOPTN BAN

This beme the tippg pot for Adoptn Advisory, which had once refed applitns om gay parents; the Milanos beme the agency’s first gay adoptive parents. In the Gill and Lofton s, anizatns like the Liberty Counsel, Amerin College of Pediatricians, and the Christian Coaln exprsed rervatns urt about allowg gay and lbian people to adopt. Lawyers and experts of the state the se agast Gill prented reasons why children would be nsired danger if placed wh gay or lbian parents.