Essay About State Of Florida And U.S

Gay Parenting
Essay title: Gay Parenting
Gay Parenting
Recently, the debate over same-sex couples and their right to adopt children, caught
my attention.
Last year I was watching a news program about Rosie O’Donnel, an actress, and
her decision to “come out of the closet.” That story then turned into another story,
about her support of a gay couple and their fight with the state of Florida. The couple,
both men, are the foster parents of five children born with HIV. Three of the children
have been with them since infancy, including the child at the center of the dispute. The
state’s position is, because he no longer test positive for HIV and is under the age of
fourteen , he’s deemed adoptable. So, they’re now looking for a heterosexual couple to
adopt him. These two men have been parents to these children in every conceivable way,
and in some cases the only ones they’ve ever known.
Now, I’m not homosexual nor do I know anyone who is. But as a parent, it certainly
caught my interest. Even on the assumption that heterosexual households are better for
children , some restrictions on gay parenting are hard to fathom. There are currently
some 3600 children , in Florida’s foster care system, illegible for adoption. For some of
these children, the alternative to gay parents maybe no parents at all.
The state of Florida prohibits any gay person from adopting. Certainly, Florida isn’t
the only state with such laws. Only six states explicitly allow adoptions by homosexuals.
Other states, like Mississippi and Utah , allow only married couples to adopt. When the
U.S supreme court refused to hear an appeal of a lower court decision to uphold Florida’s
ban on gay adoptions. Marvin O’lasky , world editor of the christian news magazine,
reacted “ good, maybe more states will now pass legislation protecting kids from gay
adoptions.”
Some law- makers and judges in other states do indeed share a horror of gay
parenthood. In 2003, Texas legislator Robert Talton told the house of representative, as
he introduced a bill to ban gay foster parenting. “If it was me, I would rather kids in
orphanages as such this is where they are now, if they’re not fostered out. At least they’ll