Gay & Lesbian Adoptions

I was listening to NPR this afternoon and the topic was Gay and Lesbian Adoptions. The experts on the call - pro and con - raised all of the issues on why it should and why it should not be banned in all 50 states.

In Ohio, there is a bill on the table to outlaw Gay & Lesbian foster care and adoptions - one of the most stringest bills in the U.S.. Even Florida, who has had a ban on G & L adoptions since the 70's still allows Gays and Lesbians to participate in the foster care programs.

The first caller on this issue was a teenage girl named Loretta who spoke about her and her sister who were currently waiting for someone to adopt them. She said that she and her sister want parents so badly that they would gladly accept two women who wanted to adopt them and love them as their own. She continued to say that the "experts" should consider the feelings and seek the opinions of those children in orphanges and foster care that have been shuffling through the process for years without parents. The experts and lawmakers should not base their bills/laws on their "in the box" beliefs/practices because many of the experts and lawmakers grew up with the "perfect nuclear family". They don't know what it is like not to have parents.

I cannot agree that it is better for a child to remain in foster care than to be in a loving home. Yet.....that is what lawmakers are saying when they pass such bills into laws. The children are better off in orphanages and foster care than in a home with two men or two women.

Are we really so far to the left of the page that this is the thought process we support as American citizens?

I know many couples who would make marvelous parents and I know some who should not even think about it. But hey.......it's the same if you are heterosexual right? Some people are meant to parent and some are clearly not.

I believe that to provide a loving home to a child is the most admirable and self-sacrificing thing that you can do in your life. If you have the wherewithall to do it and can pass the rigors and expectations of the adoption and foster care agencies, it should be open to all couples who are willing to take that step.