Tag Archives: Adoption

The Argument Against Same-Sex Parenting Just Got Blown Out Of The Water

In recent years, right winged Christians like Mark Regnerus, Donald Paul Sullins and Douglas Allen, have done their best to argue that same-sex parenting is flawed, wrong and immoral.

But a new study has blown a massive whole in this biased theory, and proved what the medical community has already long known: same-sex couples make great parents.

The primary accusation against past research supporting same-sex parenting is that the samples are skewed.

Because researchers have to advertise and search for same-sex couples willing to participate, the families self-select to join the studies, and thus may be not be representative of all same-sex families.

Mark Regnerus insisted that his studies – which are sceptical of same-sex parenting – are more valid because they use data from broad population-based surveys, and therefore are more representative.

So the Williams Institute, an LGBT think tank at the UCLA School of Law, decided to call Regnerus’ bluff.

Using data from the National Survey of Children’s Health, researchers were able to identify same-sex couples who were raising children and compare them to demographically similar different-sex parents. Because few male same-sex parent households were included in the study, they focused on female couples, identifying 95 that they then matched against similar different-sex households.

The study found only one difference between the families: same-sex couples had more stress than their different-sex peers.

However, even with that distinction, there was no difference in the outcomes for their children, including their general health, emotional difficulties, coping behaviour, or learning behaviour.

Most would think a higher stress rate would have gone against the them up, but it didn’t.

Researches concluded that the lesbian mothers might be using additional support systems like parenting groups or counselling services, and likewise, their kids may also develop greater resilience skills having to defend against the stigma of having same-sex parents.

There is an obvious explanation as to why the new study found affirming results while conservatives found negative outcomes in their population-based studies.

The new study controls for committed couples; it compares same-sex families who have raised their children from birth with different-sex families who had done the same.

None of the same-sex parents who had broken up or divorced were analysed in the study.

Regnerus didn’t account for family structure. In his study, he counted any child whose parent had had any kind of same-sex relationship at any point.

As a result, most of the children he counted had experienced a parent’s separation or divorce, but they were still compared against children from stable different-sex families. The resulting negative outcomes for those children, he concluded, proved that same-sex couples make inferior parents. Regnerus’ data only included two children who had been raised from birth by committed same-sex couples, and their outcomes were just fine.

Similar population-based surveys from Donald Paul Sullins and Douglas Allen used the same trick of comparing unstable same-sex families to stable different-sex families. Sullins, for example, used data from the National Health Interview Survey, and admitted, “Almost all opposite-sex parents who are raising joint biological offspring are in intact marriages, but very few, if any, same-sex parents were married during the period under observation.”

Sullins, like Regnerus and Allen, was comparing apples to oranges.

In some ways, the new study isn’t ground-breaking. There has already been scientific consensus in support of same-sex families for decades. With the Supreme Court’s marriage equality decision last year and the recent conclusion of the challenge to Mississippi adoption ban, same-sex adoption is now legal in all 50 states.

Nevertheless, some states are still figuring out some legal questions about same-sex parenting.

Several lesbian couples in Indiana, for example, are fighting to make sure that both moms can have their names on their children’s birth certificates, a fight that has played out in other states as well.

With courts continuing to weigh these important protections for same-sex families, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have another study showing that their children turn out just as great as in other families.


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For Now, Same Sex Couples Can Now Legally Adopt In All 50 US States

U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan has ruled that Mississippi’s ban on same-sex couples adopting children is unconstitutional.

This move now means gay adoption legal in all 50 US states.

Judge Jordan issued a preliminary injunction against the ban, citing the Supreme Court’s decision legalise same-sex marriage across the US last June.

The injunction blocks Mississippi from enforcing its 16-year-old anti-gay adoption law.

Jordan wrote in his ruling.

… foreclosed litigation over laws interfering with the right to marry and rights and responsibilities intertwined with marriage. It also seems highly unlikely that the same court that held a state cannot ban gay marriage because it would deny benefits — expressly including the right to adopt — would then conclude that married gay couples can be denied that very same benefit.”

The challenge to Mississippi’s law was filed last year by four same-sex couples, who were joined in their fight by the Campaign for Southern Equality and the Family Equality Council.

Roberta Kaplan, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said.

Two sets of our clients have waited many years to become legal parents to the children they have loved and cared for since birth. We hope that it should finally be clear that discrimination against gay people simply because they are gay violates the Constitution in all 50 states, including Mississippi.”

The Human Rights Campaign’s Mississippi state director Rob Hill also praised the ruling.

This welcome decision affirms that qualified same-sex couples in Mississippi seeking to become adoptive or foster parents are entitled to equal treatment under the law, and commits to the well-being of children in our state who need loving homes,” he said in a statement.

Sadly, the ruling came soon after Mississippi’s Senate passed a “religious freedom“ bill, its most homophobic to date.

Americans Grow Increasingly Supportive Of Gay And Lesbian Adults Adopting Children

According to the new states from the CDC, Americans have grown increasingly supportive of gay and lesbian adults adopting children.

In a survey completed in 2013, nearly 75% of women said they agreed that gay or lesbian adults should have the right to adopt children — up from 55% in 2002.

Men aren’t as accepting. Only 68% say they’re in support, up from 47% 10 years prior.

Even though men lag behind, the results show a major shift over a decade, with acceptance growing from a slight majority of the population to closer to three-quarters of the population.

Approval of same-sex relationships also grew, hitting 60% among women and 49% among men.

Given recent major political shifts, like the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide in June 2015, it’s possible that these figures have grown even further since.

Many states, like Mississippi, still have laws that prohibit or limit same-sex couples from adopting, so shifting views on adoption are every bit as important as advocates continue to press for equality.


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Court Orders Lesbian Couple To Give Back Child Three Years After Adoption

A lesbian couple in Australia have been ordered to return their adopted daughter to her birth mother after she ‘changed her mind’ about giving her up.

A court ruled that the toddler would be better off with her biological parents and three siblings, despite having lived with the couple since her birth nearly three years ago, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The Brisbane couple, known only as Ms Blaze and Ms Darnley for legal reasons, had raised her from birth in an agreement drawn up by a lawyer.

The girl’s biological mother, only identified as Ms Grady, gave her newborn to Ms Blaze and Ms Darnley because she did not have the financial means to raise another child.

A lawyer then drew up a parenting plan – described as a ‘quasi-adoption’ in court – and it was agreed Ms Grady and her other children would have ‘some on-going relationship’ with the girl, although no specifics were given.

However, Ms Grady later found out that the father was a different man to whom she initially thought, and he would give financial support to their child.

She then ‘reclaimed’ the girl, who was now about nine months old.

The couple, who had tried unsuccessfully to get pregnant via IVF, were forced to take the case to court.

But they lost and their daughter will now be ‘transitioned’ back to her biological family.

She will spend one weekend a month with Ms Blaze and Ms Darnley but they have no parental responsibility for her.

This Lesbian Couple Will Make Network TV History This Christmas

Tonie and Bianca Alfonso-Monreal of Long Beach, California, will make network television history as the first lesbian couple to be featured on the CBS Television Network annual entertainment special, A Home For The Holidays.
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On the show, the couple will share their inspiring and emotional story of how they built their family with the adoption of their son, Jacob.

When asked how they felt about making primetime history, Bianca told Huffington Post,

It is a huge honor for us. But in reality, we are just two moms doing the very best we can to raise our son.”

 

Supreme Court Sides With Lesbian Mother In Alabama Adoption Case

The Supreme Court has blocked an Alabama court from denying parental rights to a lesbian woman who was granted an adoption in Georgia.

The high court’s action could restore the woman’s visitation rights with the three children, now 13 and 11-year-old twins, while the justices decide whether to hear her appeal of the ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court.

Adoption rights for same-sex couples is one of the issues remaining in the wake of the high court’s June decision legalising same-sex marriage. More than 20 states allow gay and lesbian couples “second-parent adoptions.”

Such adoptions benefit adults who do not share a biological connection, while ensuring that children have two legal parents — particularly in case one dies or is incapacitated.

The case was brought by “V.L.,” as she is identified in court papers, against her former partner “E.L.”

The Alabama couple had three children in 2002 and 2004, but E.L is the birth mother. To get adoption rights for V.L., the couple established temporary residency to Georgia.

Now that they have split up, E.L. agrees with the Alabama Supreme Court, which ruled in September that Georgia mistakenly granted V.L. joint custody. Her lawyers argued that

“the Georgia court had no authority under Georgia law to award such an adoption, which is therefore void and not entitled to full faith and credit.”

Lawyers for V.L., including the National Center for Lesbian Rights, say the case has broad implications for any gay or lesbian adoptive parents who travel or move to Alabama.

They told the justices in court papers that same-sex adoptions “have been granted since at least the mid-1980s, long before same-sex couples could marry.” They estimated that hundreds of thousands of such adoptions now exist; the most recent statistics from the Williams Institute at UCLA indicate an estimated 65,000 adopted children live with a lesbian or gay parent.

Progress: Salt Lake City Elects First Openly Gay Female Mayor

Former lawmaker Jackie Biskupski has become the first openly gay mayor of Salt Lake City, the capital of the conservative state, Utah.

The victory marks another milestone for LGBT people in Utah who have made major strides in recent years.

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Today is not just about making history. It is about people. It is about affecting change.”

Her supporters cheered when the results were read at an elections canvass meeting.

Two-term incumbent Ralph Becker showed no reaction and later congratulated Biskupski and vowed to work with her to ensure a smooth transition.

Official election results showed Biskupski won 52 percent of the votes to defeat Becker.

Talking to reporters, Becker said.

Serving as mayor of Salt Lake City has been the richest working experience of my life.”

Salt Lake City voters also elected Derek Kitchen, who became the second gay member of the City Council.

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He and his husband, Moudi Sbeity, were one of three couples who sued to overturn the state’s same-sex marriage ban.

In the last few weeks, Utah has seen several setbacks to the LGBT community.

Last weeks a judge ordered a foster child to be removed from a lesbian couple and placed with a heterosexual couple. The judge cited the child’s well-being as the reason for his order.

The ruling set off a firestorm around the world. The judge quickly reversed his decision and took himself off the case.

Days earlier, the Salt Lake City-based Mormon church issued new rules targeting gay members and their children, prompting widespread backlash. The new policy bans baptisms for children of gay parents until the kids turn 18 and disavow same-sex relationships.

Earlier this year, the church endorsed a statewide anti-discrimination law that protected gay and transgender people from discrimination in housing and the workplace.

Biskupski said one of her goals as mayor is to meet with church leaders and discuss the new rules.

Back in 1998, when Biskupski became Utah’s first openly gay lawmaker – some of her Mormon colleagues and conservative Legislature wouldn’t shake her hand.

Asked about her win in light of the recent controversies, Biskupski said,

It’s 2015, and we’ve come a long way from, gosh, when I first got elected.”

Salt Lake City is a liberal island in the state where no Republican has been elected mayor in four decades.

Judge Changes Mind About Taking Baby Away From Lesbian Foster Parents

A Utah judge has reversed his order to take a foster child away from her foster parents because of their sexuality (even though the biological mother is happy for the couple to raise her child).

April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce – from Utah – are married with two children. The pair had also been hoping to adopt the one-year-old girl they had been fostering for three months.

Judge Scott Johansen claimed various studies suggested children are better off being raised in a heterosexual households – but the feel the judge used the questionable evidence to force his religious beliefs upon them.

He did not provide any statistics to support this claim, however, and the American Psychological Association said this so-called research does not exist.

The couple and the UDCFS were convinced the judge based his decision on his religious beliefs and filed court challenges to rescind the order.

Johansen is a bishop in the Mormon church, CBS News reports, which likely explains his disapproval of homosexuality.

But according to UDCFS spokeswoman Ashley Sumner, Johansen issued a revised order taking back his original ruling.

Sumner is still concerned, however, Johansen could very well order the baby to be taken away again at an upcoming custody hearing.

This is because even though Johansen took out a line from his original order that read, “It is not in the best interest of children to be raised by same-sex couples,” the revised version reportedly still contains the following line:

The court cited a concern that research has shown that children are more emotionally and mentally stable when raised by a mother and father in the same home.

Sumner hopes Johansen will take the mass outrage he produced into consideration during an upcoming court appearance on December 4.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert said on Thursday Johansen’s personal opinions should not at all play a role in his job to uphold the law.

Peirce and Hoagland have been raising the child for three months and are pursuing adoption.

Utah Judge Removes Child From Foster Parents Because They Are Lesbians

The judge has removed a baby girl from her foster parents because of their sexuality, even though the biological mother is happy for the couple to raise her child.

April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce – from Utah – are married with two children. The pair had also been hoping to adopt the one-year-old girl they had been fostering for three months.

However, a judge has ordered the Department of Child and Family Services to remove the child from their care within seven days.

Judge Scott Johansen claimed various studies suggested children are better off being raised in a heterosexual households – but the feel the judge used the questionable evidence to force his religious beliefs upon them.

The couple say they are devastated by the ruling, especially as they have not done anything legally wrong.

Talking to KUTV, Ms Hoagland said

We are shatteredIt hurts me really badly because I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Ms Peirce added

He’s never been in our home, never spent time with the child in our home or our other children so he doesn’t know anything about this.”

Brent Platt, Director of the state’s Division of Child and Family Services, said he had not seen the judge’s order – but his caseworkers must comply. At the same time, he wants to make sure his caseworkers don’t break the law by removing the child. He will have his division’s attorneys look at the judge’s order.

LGBT activists have rejected the decision, noting that recent studies prove that sexuality has no negative impact on a couple’s ability to raise a child – in fact, the opposite is often true.

President of The Human Rights Campaign, Chad Griffin, said in a statement

Removing a child from a loving home simply because the parents are LGBT is outrageous, shocking, and unjust. At a time when so many children in foster care need loving homes, it is sickening to think that a child would be taken from caring parents who planned to adopt.

It also flies in the face of overwhelming evidence that children being raised by same-sex parents are just as healthy and well-adjusted as those with different-sex parents.”

One such study by the University of Texas recently found that same-sex couples actually tend to invest more time in their children than their heterosexual counterparts.
The study – that was launched to tackle prejudice like this.

 

The Mexican Supreme Court Strikes Down Same-Sex Adoption Ban

In a nine votes to one ruling, Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that banning same-sex couples from adopting children is unconstitutional.

Justices struck down a same-sex adoption ban in the southern state of Campeche. The human rights commission, who argued this law violated constitutional rights to non-discrimination and form families, filed the challenge to a law passed in 2013.

The decision ruled that the ban was unconstitutional.

Presiding judge, Luis Maria Aguila, said the decision was made bearing in mind the need to protect children being adopted.

I see no problem for a child to be adopted in a society of co-existence, which has precisely this purpose. Are we going to prefer to have children in the street, which according to statistics exceed 100,000? We attend, of course, and perhaps with the same intensity or more, to the interests of the child.”

Eduardo Medina Mora was the only supreme court judge to vote against the ruling – he argued that the interest of the child, rather than the adopting couple, should be key.

The same court in June ruled that Mexico’s state bans on same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, effectively legalising it.

France Rules That Married Lesbians are Allowed to Adopt their Partner’s Children

The highest court in France has ruled that married lesbians are allowed to adopt their partner’s child born through in vitro fertilization or other medically assisted reproduction.

The Cour de Cassation’s ruled this week that married lesbians may adopt children born by their partners through assisted reproduction performed outside of France. This ruling is a consequence of the legalization of gay marriage in France last year.

France allows assisted reproduction only for heterosexual couples who have been together at least two years. The restriction has sent many gay couples abroad – many of them going to neighboring Belgium or Spain to have access to fertility treatment.

Sadly, upon return to France, French law recognized only the birth mother as the legal parent.

This change in law will make amends to this, and before parents will be rightfully recognized.