Letting Heather Have Two Mommies

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute has just released a handy roundup report on the arguments for and against gay adoption—the latter consisting largely of the snake oil soi-disant social scientist Paul Cameron passes off as "research." The unsurprising recommendation:

Move to end legal and de facto restrictions on adoption by gays and lesbians. This includes working to expand co-parent and second parent adoption, as well as revising agency policies and practices that may impede their consideration as an adoptive resource.

I wrote about the mounting assault on gay adoption last summer--and the backlash had only grown when USA Today covered it last month.

Comments

[eric mattingly]

The whole thing is just too sad-- as Julian has said, it is a terrible day for everyone (not least for those who call themselves Christian) when dogma and ideology get in the way of what's best for kids. It really bums me out.

[andy]

C'mon, Eric,

It's far preferable for kids to not grow up in loving homes than to risk them getting The Gay. Where's your copy of Leviticus, ye heathen?!?

[andy]

Seriously, though, all things being equal, a heterosexual couple is obviously better for a child, if not much better. However with the shortage of heterosexual couples willing to adopt, and given the fact that adoption by a gay couple is almost certainly better than foster care or orphanages, it's unconscionable that so many people are willing to put their homophobia before the well-being of children.

[ChicagoTom]

It's far preferable for kids to not grow up in loving homes than to risk them getting The Gay.

It's not just getting the gay, but protecting them from molestation

[ChicagoTom]

It's far preferable for kids to not grow up in loving homes than to risk them getting The Gay.

It's not just getting the gay, but protecting them from molestation

[Kwix]

I am going to assume that ChicagoTom is being facetious and as such here are further articles (closer to the source).

Out and About Nashville
The Tennessean

[thoreau]

How long before Viking Moose and Steven Crane show up to comment on "Heather Has Two Mommies"?

[Julian Sanchez]

"Seriously, though, all things being equal, a heterosexual couple is obviously better for a child, if not much better."

I don't find that obvious, and there's nothing in the (admittedly thin) available data to support that conclusion.

[eric mattingly]

I really think that W.A.S.P.y blonde-headed types and their dumbass looks of self-righteousness should be banned from making public pronouncements for ten years. Then, when they're allowed back in the public arena we can all tell them to shut up since they don't know what they're doing-- and maybe then they will.

[Strange Attractor]

Andy;

However with the shortage of heterosexual couples willing to adopt,

I don?t think there IS a shortage. People are going overseas to adopt kids because they can?t get them here.

[Strange Attractor]

Andy;

However with the shortage of heterosexual couples willing to adopt,

I don?t think there IS a shortage. People are going overseas to adopt kids because they can?t get them here.

[Rick H.]

Good one, ChicagoTom. I especially liked this part:

"I have strong convictions. I just feel kids in our foster have been through enough. They need the optimum family unit, and that is a mother and a father," she said.

Yeah, since there aren't nearly enough June & Ward Cleavers to go around, those foster kids will just have to hold out for the big lottery win. It's all or nothing at all. What moral values these human beings possess.

[Julian Sanchez]

SA-
There is, in fact, a massive shortage. Florida alone (the one state with a full-blown ban on gay adoption) has a backlog of some 5,000 kids they're trying to place with permanent adoptive parents. People aren't going overseas because foster kids here are all getting snapped up by eager parents; they're going overseas because it's often less of a bureaucratic hassle, because they want infants instead of older children, or because kids coming out of foster care are often "special needs" cases, with either physical or mental disabilites or a history of abuse.

[Rhywun]

I don't see how a heterosexual couple is "obviously" better, either--and I'm not just being self-serving (I hate kids and don't have any desire for one). I think the only leg that people who believe this have to stand on is the overrated conception that kids need "role models of both genders"--but nothing says those two genders need to be represented by the kid's parents, or that the kid can't learn anything from the thousands of examples of each gender he or she will come in contact with.

[Native NYer]

Wiht all the research showing how children fare better later in life wiht parents who want them than parents who do not you'd think this would be a slam dunk.

[Paul]

Personally, I'm agin any policy which creates another demographic which thinks it can have its cell phone on in the theater so they can 'stay in touch' with the babysitter. To gay adoptions, I say "No".

[Stevo Darkly]

I keep reading this title as "Letting Leather Have Two Mommies."

[Steven Crane]

How long before Viking Moose and Steven Crane show up to comment on "Heather Has Two Mommies"?

Sorry man, I was asleep.

[Strange Attractor]

Rhywun;

the overrated conception that kids need "role models of both genders"--

The "matriarchal" families of the inner cities aren't really doing too well.

[Isaac Bartram]

The "matriarchal" families of the inner cities aren't really doing too well.

Not sure, but I would guess that that likely has more to do with the quality and quantity of parental attention.