For quite some time there has been constant debate over whether or not gay couples should be allowed to adopt children.
People still argue today that allowing gays to adopt will have a negative effect on the child. Others are simply not open to the idea of gay couples having the rights that they deserve. In 1977, Florida passed a law that prohibited gay couples from adopting children. However, Florida’s recent legalization of gay adoption last month has somewhat added to the debate on this controversial issue. The decision to finally legalize gay adoption arose from a case that involved a man who sued the state for the right to adopt two children that were under his care. His case was taken to the Supreme Court.
Florida’s decision is certainly a good one because the truth of the matter is that a person’s sexuality does not change the fact that they are still human beings who deserve the same rights as everyone else.
This assumption that such an environment may have a negative effect is a possible argument, however, according to research done by the American Psychological Association, children that are brought up in homes with gay parents “demonstrate no significant differences in intellectual development, social adjustment or psychological well-being from children raised by heterosexual parents.” It is also a bit unfair to try to predict how a child will grow up based on the chosen sexuality of their parents. Just because a child’s parents are gay does not mean that the child will be gay as well. This should be the least of society’s worries, considering the fact that there are plenty of other potentially detrimental factors that children face each and every day.
This is in no way an attempt to endorse homosexuality but an effort to open the eyes of those who do not realize that taking homosexual individuals’ rights away is not going to remove homosexuality from society.
It is not like they are asking for anything that is ridiculous or detrimental to society, they are simply asking for the right to give a child a home. According to a study conducted by The Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles’ School of Law, “If a state were to decide to limit adoption and foster care by gay parents, it is likely that children placed with existing LGBT foster parents would be removed from those families.” An estimated 14,000 kids would be displaced.
There are already many children that are still not adopted, so why add more? With so many homeless and suffering children, why not give one the chance to rise above with a chance at a better life and future? This is what society should be concerned with, not whether the child will follow in the footsteps of their gay parents.