Should Gay Couples Be Able to Adopt: Exploring the Debate
The question I have decided to do for my essay is should gay couples be able to adopt? I’m curious about the different attitudes people have towards this controversial issue. I have also decided to research the issue of same sex adoption because I believe that nobody should be denied the right to adopt a child based on their sexual orientation.
Should Gay Couples Be Able to Adopt Children: Article Analysis
According to the fist article “One group that is seemingly underutilized as potential adoptive parents are those in the lesbian and gay (LG) community, with around 2 million prospective parents still facing legal obstacles due to their sexual orientation.” Another thing I want to get out of this is to understand where the idea that same sex couples shouldn’t adopt came from. Many Americans assume that same sex couples shouldn’t be allowed to adopt because it is harmful to the child. I have always believed that a couple should be able to adopt if they’re loving, supportive, and can provide a good life for the child. This issue doesn’t relate to me in a personal way and I would say it is more professional.
My scholarly article did not discuss the history but I found a source that did but it isn’t a scholarly source. As a result of my research, I have found that same sex adoption can be seen as early as World War II. Back then people usually heard about LGBTQ adoption in the cases where child custody was not granted after a divorce from couples who were of the opposite sex. Then the 1970s arrived and some state courts kept the rights of custody for lesbian and gay parents but they couldn’t live with a partner and they couldn’t engage in homosexual activities. In 1985, there were some same sex couples that secured “second parent adoptions” and this was to guarantee a child’s legal connection to a parent that was not biologically related to them. In New Jersey it became legal for same sex couples to adopt a child together. Finally in 2010 Florida made it legal for same sex couples to adopt by overturning a previous ban. Unfortunately, some states stopped same sex couples from adopting until they were married and they were not given that right until 2015. This issue seems to have been around since World War II when same sex adoption became recognized. This issue started as more people became aware of homosexuality and did not agree with it. Gay and lesbian people never really got what they wanted until decades later and even then there are struggles today.
According to my article there are still some negative attitudes surrounding same sex adoption. It is getting better though because there is more support. The authors write that there are some experts today who say “there is no support to ban LGs from adopting due to their sexual orientation, but resources should be provided to assist them in the process.” The article also says “Governmental support for adoptions has increased over recent years, but there were still more than 101,000 adoptable children in the United States that were not placed in a permanent home in 2012'.
Conclusion
Overall, the above analysis of acticles about controversary around same-sex adoption show that things are changing but there is still work that needs to be done. In states such as California and Washington DC, liberal groups have successfully began to place children in same-sex households despite the objections of faith-based agencies. In response, states such as Alabama and Texas have passed legislation to stop religious prejudice against religious agencies. The number of adoptions by same-sex couples has more than tripled from 6,500 couples in the year 2000 to 22,000 in the year 2010. Almost forty percent of all adoption agencies and eighty-three percent of public agencies report that they have made at least one adoption placement with an LGBTQ member.
