Should Homosexuals Adopt Children?

I remember an incident, almost half a year ago, when I was participating in a debate about human rights and equity. Everyone had the chance to talk and present their views for five minutes and after that all the rest had the right to attack or support these views with specific evidence.

The issue that we were most interested in was homosexuality and how it is treated nowadays. Specifically we dealt with their right to adopt and raise children. Many views were presented that day. I recall only one because it was remarkable and quite moving. It was the confession of a girl in her early twenties. She told us a story about a girl who was raised by homosexual parents.

The girl was raised in a discriminated but positive environment. Even though both parents were unemployed due to their discriminating sexual orientation, they adored the girl and made their best in order to provide the best possible conditions for a living. However, everybody was accusing the parents that they were pushing the child towards immorality and that they were not able to raise her in an appropriate, stable environment. That is why the judge decided to take the girl and place her in another, more stable family which consisted of heterosexual parents.

The girl burst into tears and admitted that she was the only girl in the "abnormal" family and that she was later placed in a terrible environment where nobody was really interested in her. After she became an adult she went to live with her true parents, as she refers to them, which loved her deeply and unconditionally.

After the confession we all kept wondering why people behave in such an unfair manner. Even the judge who is considered to be an educate person treated homosexuals as outsiders and unable beings. I am sure that homosexuals are as able as heterosexuals and maybe even more able to give love, to adopt and raise children in an appropriate environment. That's why I decided to write this essay in order to present and support my view while I will be opposing the view that states that homosexuals should not be allowed to adopt children.

In order for a couple to be permitted to adopt, local authorities must guarantee that the adopters are able to provide a physically and psychologically appropriate home for the child (Microsoft Encarta 97).

However, based to common beliefs, homosexuals are not regarded as able enough to provide a steady household due to their strange sexual preferences. A child commissioner, called Bischoff, told to the press: "I have nothing against them being homosexual and according to the new constitution, we can not be prejudiced, but I do not believe a homosexual couple provides the ideal environment for a child to grow up in" (West J. Donald et al, p.35). In addition, the majority of people would support that the contact with gay parents would influence the child's development. However, an unpublished case supported that children's interaction with homosexuals will not damage their emotional health and development (West J. Donald et al, p.154). there is no proof to imply that the psychological health and emotional welfare of children raised in gay or lesbian homes is comprised in any way (www.tourolaw.edu/publications/ suffolk/vol10/ part3_txt.htm, p.20). Some recent research pointed out that the quality of parenting is the most critical aspect for the healthy growth and development of a child, and not his/her parent's sexual orientation (www.tourolaw.edu/publications/ suffolk/vol10/ part3_txt.htm, p.20). Similarly, based on current studies, same sex parents are raising healthy children and deserve increased legal protection in terms of custody rights (www.tourolaw.edu/publications/suffolk/vol10/ part3_txt.htm, p.21). Therefore, claims that the emotional and psychological health of a child raised in a homosexual environment are harmful, are absolutely invalid (www.tourolaw.edu/ publications/suffolk/ vol10/part3_txt.htm, p.21). States such as New Hampshire, in which homosexuals are denied either the right to adopt or foster children have done so because homosexuals are viewed as bad role models (www.yahoo.com).

Courts fear the exposure of a child to the homosexual society since most view homosexuality as unnatural and immoral (www.tourolaw.edu/publications/suffolk/vol10/ part3_txt.htm).

Another view presented was in New York court in which it has been supported that homosexual relationships were seen as secret, diverge behavior.

In contrast a New Jersey court supported that children must not live in a fake situation in which they will visualize that life is different than it is, they should be able to set their own values of rights and wrong in order to be able to recognize that the majority is not always correct in its moral judgments (West J. Donald et al, p.154).

In most states of America, homosexuals are allowed and encouraged to apply for child adoption. The court must decide whether the same sex couple or the homosexual individual has the prerequisites to raise a child. According to these states, good parenting is not determined by sexual orientation. It is influenced by the individual's ability, ability irrelevant with one's sexual preferences, to create a positive, loving environment (http://www.aclu.org /issues/gay/parent.html).

The 49 states that permit homosexual adoption do not treat homosexuals as unstable but in contrast, they treat them as equal to heterosexuals since same sex adoption has been attempted in several states.

However, even though most states in America permit homosexual adoption (West J. Donald et al, p.155) Florida does not. They still believe in homosexual instability even though there is no substantial evidence suggesting that gay people are in poor condition of becoming parents (http://www.aclu.org/issues/gay/parent.html). The weird thing is even though Florida does not allow homosexual individuals to adopt, it allows single parents, working mothers, parents who already have children, interracial parents and people of any religious faith to adopt.

Such individuals are not more stable than homosexuals but despite this they are treated as more stable figures (http://www.uwiretoday.com/editorials083101006.html).

A judge who rules in Florida, James Lawrence King, argued that homosexual households are not equally stable, are not able to provide appropriate sex classification and are socially stigmatized. The judge's judgment is inspiring for those who are disturbed with stressing biblical morality in the society (http://www.Christiansnite.com).

A factor determining whether or not a homosexual is able to adopt and to benefit the child is his/her sexual preference. Therefore, his/her sexual orientation is used to announce him/her "unfit" to raise a child. It is mostly Arizona's policy