Gay rights, relig eedom, and the battle over adoptn

Contents:

• IN GOOD FAH? U.S. LEGAL BATTLE OVER GAY ADOPTN TENSIFI
• ADOPTN AGENCY SHOULD BE ABLE TO REJECT GAY UPL, TMP ADMISTRATN ARGU
• WHAT MAK A FAY? A CLOSER LOOK AT GAY ADOPTN
• OUR PARENTS ARE GAY. ARE OUR FAI GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE SUPREME COURT?
• GAY RIGHTS, RELIG EEDOM, AND THE BATTLE OVER ADOPTN
• GAY ADOPTN
• A DEBATE OVER GAY ADOPTN AND FOSTERG
• PUBLIC OPN ON GAY AND LBIAN ADOPTN
• RSIA ENACTS ANTI-GAY ADOPTN BAN
• RSIAN NSTUTN CHANGE ENDS HOP FOR GAY MARRIAGE

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

“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. 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.

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

”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.

”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.

WHAT MAK A FAY? A CLOSER LOOK AT GAY ADOPTN

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. 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.

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.

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

”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.

GAY RIGHTS, RELIG EEDOM, AND THE BATTLE OVER ADOPTN

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. There is some evince that children of gays and lbians are more tolerant of diversy, but this is certaly not a disadvantage.

GAY ADOPTN

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.

A DEBATE OVER GAY ADOPTN AND FOSTERG

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. 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.

PUBLIC OPN ON GAY AND LBIAN ADOPTN

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.

RSIA ENACTS ANTI-GAY ADOPTN BAN

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.

RSIAN NSTUTN CHANGE ENDS HOP FOR GAY MARRIAGE

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.

(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.