Sectn 2: Long-Term Views of Homosexualy, Gay Marriage and Adoptn | Pew Rearch Center

Contents:

• ADOPTN AGENCY SHOULD BE ABLE TO REJECT GAY UPL, TMP ADMISTRATN ARGU
• GAY RIGHTS, RELIG EEDOM, AND THE BATTLE OVER ADOPTN
• SECTN 2: LONG-TERM VIEWS OF HOMOSEXUALY, GAY MARRIAGE AND ADOPTN
• ADOPTED CHILDREN REMOVED FROM GAY DADS IN RSIA
• NO MORE GAY ADOPTNS OF RSIAN CHILDREN: PUT
• ‘THEY ARE NOT HAPPY WH HOW WE LOVE EACH OTHER’: GAY PARENTS FEAR A MELONI VICTORY.
• LS OPPOSN TO GAY MARRIAGE, ADOPTN AND MILARY SERVICE
• RSIA ENACTS ANTI-GAY ADOPTN BAN
• VLADMIR PUT SIGNS RSIA GAY ADOPTN BAN

ADOPTN AGENCY SHOULD BE ABLE TO REJECT GAY UPL, TMP ADMISTRATN ARGU

”The latter argument c a recent Supreme Court se which the ernment tervened on behalf of baker Jack Phillips who refed to bake a weddg ke for a gay uple due to his relig beliefs. Over 21 percent of gay upl are raisg adopted children, pared wh 3 percent of straight upl, and nearly 3 percent of gay upl have foster children, pared wh 0.

When Walter Olson and his now-hband, Steve Pipp, first enrolled their adopted son Timothy prchool more than 15 years ago, they weren’t exactly sure what to that time, before seismic social chang helped rhape the daily rhythms of LGBTQ Amerins and refe the legal fn of marriage, was still more or ls a socially darg act for a gay uple to seek to adopt, Mr.

“And to get that done, I thk we have to have all hands on ck, meang that if you look at those who adopt or foster most the Uned Stat, ’s sgle women, ’s gay and lbian upl, and ’s relig people. “Even though gay advot and relig advot have gotten to be on oppose sis of the legal battl, there are reasons why they should unrstand each other, bee those two groups, more than almost any others, are drawn to adoptn, ” he says.

GAY RIGHTS, RELIG EEDOM, AND THE BATTLE OVER ADOPTN

”Ined, one of the most important reasons Ameri beme a pneer same-sex adoptns s ago was the number of gay and lbian upl and dividuals who felt lled to give re to fants born wh HIV. “Extraordary s which gay upl and dividuals wh humanarian motiv ma the se to let those kids have a parent, at least for the uple of years that they were gog to be alive. “Ameri might have taken longer than European untri to get to gay marriage, but was still the pneer on gay adoptn, bee Ameri, to a large extent, if you wanted to adopt or start a fay, you uld jt go ahead and do .

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.

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. Conservative anizatns that claim to poe “tradnal fay valu” have promised to lnch a natnwi mpaign 1998 to enact state-level legislatn to prohib adoptn by lbians and gay men.

SECTN 2: LONG-TERM VIEWS OF HOMOSEXUALY, GAY MARRIAGE AND ADOPTN

The threats of anti-gay and anti-child legislatn have e rponse to the creased willgns of urts, policymakers and legislators to regnize that lbians and gay men n be good parents and should be evaluated on their parentg skills, rather than their sexual orientatn. The recent settlement of an ACLU lawsu New Jersey, where the State agreed to allow lbian and gay upl to adopt unr the same standards applied to married upl, has creased the right wg’s foc on this issue. Bee nobody has the right to adopt, our opposn to anti-gay adoptn bills is not based on “gay rights” and we should not ame our arguments that way.

The Amerin Psychology Associatn, a recent report reviewg the rearch, observed that “not a sgle study has found children of gay or lbian parents to be disadvantaged any signifint rpect relative to children of heterosexual parents” and nclud that “home environments provid by gay and lbian parents are as likely as those provid by heterosexual parents to support and enable children’s psychosocial growth. ”7 That’s why the Child Welfare League of Ameri, the natn’s olst children’s advocy anizatn, argu that gays and lbians seekg to adopt should be evaluated jt like other adoptive applints.

ADOPTED CHILDREN REMOVED FROM GAY DADS IN RSIA

All of the available evince monstrat that the sexual orientatn of parents has no impact on the sexual orientatn of their children and that children of lbian and gay parents are no more likely than any other child to grow up to be gay. The study nclud that “a child’s risk of beg molted by his or her relative’s heterosexual partner is over 100 tim greater than by someone who might be intifiable as beg homosexual, lbian, or bisexual. For a more -pth discsn of the rearch on lbian and gay parentg, see Lbian And Gay Parentg, Amerin Psychologil Associatn (1995).

For a more extensive discsn of the policy and legal issu surroundg the qutn of adoptns by lbians and gay men, see Issu In Gay And Lbian Adoptn, Child Welfare League of Ameri (1995). Efforts to feat anti-gay, anti-child adoptn legislatn should employ the arguments and rmatn ntaed the ACLU’s policy memorandum, “Defendg Fair And Sensible Adoptn Polici.

Nothg is more effective at bunkg the bias and stereotyp voked by opponents of “gay adoptn” than actually showg legislators and the public who lbian and gay parents are.

NO MORE GAY ADOPTNS OF RSIAN CHILDREN: PUT

The most effective way to do this is by gettg lbian and gay fai to tell their stori ttimony before legislative mte, to the media, and public meetgs. The ACLU has found that the more legislators and the public get to hear the real-life stori of lbians and gay men who are buildg fai through adoptn and other means, the more succs we have featg anti-gay, anti-child adoptn proposals. By speakg at ACLU prs nferenc and agreeg to be terviewed by televisn and rad shows, the uple foced public discsn about “gay adoptn” on the real issue: placg parentls children stable and lovg hom.

As a rult of the historic nature of the New Jersey settlement, which guarante that gay and heterosexual unmarried upl seekg to adopt will be evaluated by the same standards as married upl, right-wg anizatns immediately vowed to overturn the agreement the state legislature. Try to fd lbian or gay upl or dividuals who have adopted or are otherwise raisg children and who are willg to tell their story public. Make sure they unrstand the public msag that we are tryg to munite our efforts to feat anti-gay, anti-child adoptn proposals.

As we discsed the ACLU policy memorandum, our arguments on “gay adoptn” should foc on servg the bt terts of children by fdg them stable and lovg hom. Bee adoptn is a children’s issue, not a gay rights issue, only mak sense that legislators and the public should be hearg om anizatns that advote for children’s terts. For example, the Child Welfare League of Ameri, which sets natnal standards for children’s servic and is the olst and largt children’s advocy anizatn the untry, says that gays and lbians seekg to adopt should be evaluated jt like everybody else.

‘THEY ARE NOT HAPPY WH HOW WE LOVE EACH OTHER’: GAY PARENTS FEAR A MELONI VICTORY.

(For a py of an op ed piece on gay adoptn recently thored by the ACLU and the Child Welfare League, ntact the ACLU’s Lbian and Gay Rights Project. Categoril bans on adoptn by lbians and gay men are a radil parture om this morn trend and allow policians to make cisns that should be ma by parents and profsnals.

The same qutn n and should be asked about the relatnship regardls of whether volv a married uple or a lbian or gay uple: n this uple provi a lovg and stable home for a child?

Lbians and gay men, whether sgle or upl, ually fall farther down the “peckg orr, ” although there may be exceptns dividual s pendg. "Jackson is one of 65, 000 adopted children beg raised by same-sex parents the Uned Stat, acrdg to a March 2007 report piled by the Urban Instute and the Williams Instute at Universy of California at Los Angel School of same report timat more than 14, 100 foster children were livg wh one or more gay or lbian foster and his longtime partner, Ken Manford, adopted Jackson om Guatemala 2001 and say he is not overly bothered by the non-tradnal character of their fay.

LS OPPOSN TO GAY MARRIAGE, ADOPTN AND MILARY SERVICE

""Love mak a fay, not blogy or genr, " he prejudice, legal hurdlEndurg the time-nsumg adoptn or foster re procs is harryg enough for heterosexual upl, but gays and lbians face addnal stat do not have specific laws or urt cisns on gay adoptn or gay foster parentg, acrdg to Pl Catt, director of public tn for the Amerin Civil Liberti Unn's gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr stat and Washgton, D.

RSIA ENACTS ANTI-GAY ADOPTN BAN

Eher implicly or explicly state that sexual orientatn nnot legally prevent gay and lbians om adoptg, acrdg to the Urban Instute report.

)Three stat have laws nyg gays and lbians the right to adopt or take foster Mississippi allows sgle gays and lbians to adopt, prohibs same-sex upl om adoptg.

Florida is currently the only state that specifilly bans "homosexual" dividuals om adoptg, although the state do allow them to be foster the remag 36 stat, gays and lbians who want to adopt or take foster re children are at the mercy of judg and adoptn and foster agenci, acrdg to the Evan B. Donaldson Adoptn Instute, a non-prof anizatn that studi adoptn and foster although the stute says about 60 percent of all adoptn agenci accept applitns om gays and lbians, they are often nonted wh prejudice durg the Prettyman's partner, Kelly Schlageter, ed a sperm donor and gave birth to tw girls about six months ago. Amerins dividWhile has not galvanized opposn as forcefully as the issue of same-sex marriage, polls show the Amerin public is divid about gay and lbian adoptn.

VLADMIR PUT SIGNS RSIA GAY ADOPTN BAN

(Read how a new poll suggts even more Amerins approve of adoptn by same-sex upl)Some opponents argue that gay or lbian hoeholds suffer om not havg both a mom and a dad.

"There is no credible social science evince to support that gay parentg -- and by extensn, gay adoptive parentg -- negatively affects the well-beg of children, " said Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B.

"Pertman says his anizatn is not particularly volved gay and lbian issu - they support gay and lbian parentg bee "serv children's terts. "Several anizatns -- the Natnal Adoptn Center, the Amerin Medil Associatn, Amerin Psychologil Associatn, the Amerin Amy of Pediatrics -- also say that havg gay and lbian parents do not negatively affect proponents, like Rob Woronoff of the Child Welfare League of Ameri, argue shuttg off adoptn and foster re to gays and lbians adversely affects children bee narrows the pool of potential parents.