Term Paper on "Gay and Lesbian Couples Should Be Able to Be Parents"

Term Paper 8 pages (2561 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Gay & Lesbian Couples should be able to be Parents

Affirming the Rights of Gay and Lesbian Couples to Adopt

"Equal rights for lesbians and gay men may be the greatest civil rights battle of the 21st century," (Avery et al. 2007:73). In today's world, there are sever restrictions placed on the legal and natural rights of gay and lesbian couples in comparison to their heterosexual counterparts. With many states refusing to give such couples the right to legally marry, and therefore enjoy the legal rights associated with marriage, many gay and lesbian couples are struggling to find some sort of normalcy within the context of their relationships. This means that gay and lesbian couples should also share the equal right to adopt children when the situation allows for it. Such actions help millions of children all over the world get out of orphanages and detrimental situations attached to irresponsible biological parents, or those simply unable to care for their offspring. Recently, many states have adopted programs to allow such adoptions under same-sex parents. Yet, despite all the benefits allowing gay and lesbian couples to adopt presents, there is still a strong opposition based primarily on religious reasons and the argument that growing up under two same sex parents will be some how damaging to the natural psychological and biological development of the child in question. Despite such arguments, it is clear that gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to adopt. Based on the findings of modern research, same sex couples present a similar growing environment for children in need, thus proving that gay and lesbian couples are just as capable raising children as any heterosexual couples would be, proving that they should then be legally allowed to adopt and care for such children in need.

The process and statutes involved in same sex adoption policies vary greatly from state to state as well as within the minds and opinions of Americans across the country. Before a major taboo, the practice has become more common with less state restrictions across the United States. In cases where the states allow legal marriage between same sex partners, adoption laws are easier for same sex couples. Being legally married provides benefits within the adoption process that help the couple beyond the simple civil unions seen in other states where same sex marriage is not yet a legal practice; "The legal definition of marriage does not exist in isolation; changing it alters many areas of the law. For example, the definition of marriage plays an important role in the law of adoption, education, employee benefits, employment discrimination, government contracts and subsidies, taxation, tort law, and trusts and estates," (Severino 2007:941). Thus, states such as Vermont, where gay marriage is a legal practice, allow for an easier process during a gay or lesbian couple's path towards adoption. However, this does not prohibit all gay and lesbian couples living in states with legal restrictions on same sex marriage from adopting as well, the process is just made more complicated. In fact, "Restricting marriage and adoption to heterosexual couples is detrimental to the interests of the state because it actively discourages the formation of small mutual aid societies," (Struening 1999:479). Research states that "In many jurisdictions same-sex and other couples may obtain children by means of medically assisted reproduction techniques, such as artificial insemination, or by adoption," (Wardle 2001:778). Yet, in states without the protection of same sex marriage, the process usually includes adoption by one parent only, leaving the child t benefit from only one parent's inheritance and benefits.

Many states have made an effort to help increase the ease of adoption by gay and lesbian couples. In many cases, such as in Massachusetts has forced religious organizations to place children within the homes of same-sex couples, "In that case, Catholic Charities of Boston has been required to either place foster children into the homes of homosexual couples in violation of its religious convictions, or lose its license to place any children at all," (Severino 2007:943). This a strong statement by such states which represents that the legal rights of individuals supersedes that of religious boundaries set by many orphanages and other adoption groups and agencies. According to proponents of gay and lesbian adoption, "when law and policy prevent same-sex marriage and joint adoption by gay and lesbian parents, adults are discouraged from taking care of each other and from taking care of children," (Struening 1999:483). Thus, it is an important and decisive move for a state to claim that the legal rights of adoption go beyond the same sex marriage and religious and debates.

Yet, despite the legal right for such couples to adopt in most states, there are still many within the context of the United States strongly believe that adoption practices should be limited strictly to heterosexual couples. There are several prominent arguments which back this decision, including religious ties and affiliations which present same sex relations as sinful and not to be allowed to disrupt the natural growth of the child in question. From one religious extreme, gay and lesbian adoption is sinful. The Vatican has publicly called gay and lesbian adoption "gravely immoral," and states that "it would actually mean doing violence to these children," (Clinton 2006:39). This is a religious opinion that stretches far beyond the limits of Catholicism and permeates into other Christian denominations as well as Islamic and Jewish faiths. Yet, this presents pure opinion, and not a scientifically-based reason to oppose gay and lesbian adoption.

The more research based argument against gay and lesbian adoption rests on the idea that the unusual and taboo relationship of the parents will inevitably have a negative impact on the growth and development of the child. "Research is increasingly indicating, however, that men and women parent differently," thus a child is missing out on crucial social training and parental influences when they are exposed to only one gender throughout their development (Somerville 2007:183). This may have detrimental psychological issues within the child's mind later on life. Additionally, many believe that taking the child from the more normal biological familial structure will also have later damage on the child's psyche. In this argument, "Recognition of same-sex marriage can be seen as an unprecedented experiment on children, in general, in terms of the known and unknown risks and harms it presets for them by unlinking children from their biological parents," (Somerville 2007:185). Thus many believe that allowing gay and lesbian adoptions is being cruel to the child in question. Many believe that "In taking away children's right to a mother and father, preferably their own biological parents, which same-sex marriage inevitably does, we, as a society, are guilty of wiping out affected children's day-to-day experience of their genetic identity through interactions with their biological family," (Somerville 2007:188). Although this is a compelling argument, it is not fully supported by current research findings. However, there are other arguments which state that gay and lesbian relationships violate the legal constitution of marriage. Under American law "the purpose of marriage is procreation and that same-sex couples are incapable of symbolizing the normative values of social regenesis," (Struening 1999). If same sex marriages are unable to produce offspring on their own it jeopardizes the whole legal necessities of marriage customs in the United States. On top of psychological damage, critics represent the idea that such adoption practices will stunt the social growth of the child in question. First is the idea that "gay parenting seems to bear a stigma for the children raised under it, not to mention the bullying they may receive from peers," (Avery et al. 2007:75). Thus, the child will be ostracized from his or her peers, and this socially stunted leading to later development problems down the line. Not to mention, gay and lesbian adoption presents further complications by witnessing the damage which can occur in the dissolution of such a relationship with a child in the middle. Since most adoption practices allow for adoption of only one partner, the other may loose all ties with the child. Others believe that "There is already too much of this kind of thing when divorced spouses remarry persons of the opposite sex; imagine the explosive situation that would result if gay and lesbian spouses were added to the mix," (Wardle 2001:774). Such arguments present the idea that gay and lesbian adoptions are in one way or another damaging to the child in question, and since the child must be protected, such adoptions should not be condoned.

However, much recent research paints a much different story when examining the relations and practices involved in gay and lesbian adoptions. In the arguments that support the rights of gays and lesbians to adopt is a massive volume of research disproving fears of damaging the child in question. According to supporters, "Adoption is for the benefit of children for whom the linkage of procreation to child rearing has already failed, so it makes no sense to evaluate any… READ MORE

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