Besides just voting on presidents and local officials, don’t forget that you will also be voting on some proposed laws.
For example, Arkansas is trying to ban gays from being able to adopt. Well, not really gays (according to the act) but unmarried people who are living with someone else. Go read the FAQ for the Arkansas Adoption Act.
So, they say that the best homes are the homes with a mother and a father. So, therefore, anybody who is married can adopt (or be a foster parent). Anybody who is unmarried but living with a partner (gay or straight) cannot. But anybody who is unmarried but not living with a partner can adopt or be a foster parent.
I’m so confused.
So a single man and a single woman who have been living unmarried together for 10 years cannot adopt. But if they moved into separate homes, they could?
Bizarre.
But maybe I shouldn’t expect to understand the act. It is clearly a work in progress. Go back and read FAQ #6.
Again, and this seems to be becoming a theme, can we stop trying to pass laws that are about discriminating and limiting the rights of certain segments of our society that are not married, heterosexual, and Christian.
Check out FAQ #19:
19. Does this act discriminate?
No. Treating homosexuals the same as heterosexuals is not discrimination. This act treats cohabiting homosexuals exactly the same as cohabiting heterosexuals. There is nothing discriminatory about finding good homes for adoptive and foster care children.
Technically it is true that the law does not discriminate against homosexuals. In practice it is not true, however. It is against the law for homosexuals to marry in Arkansas. Therefore, they cannot marry. So their choice is cohabitate and not adopt or live alone and adopt. Heterosexuals can cohabitate and adopt or live alone and adopt. That smells like discrimination to me.
One study that I would really love to see (and if you know of it, please let me know). Somewhere on the site they mention that unmarried couples living together would make bad adoptive parents because they are more likely to break up which would be bad for the kid. I want to know what percentage of gay couples that have been allowed to adopt have ended up breaking up. I would like to see that compared against the straight married couples that have been able to adopt.
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November is adoption awareness month so the irony of the timing of this makes me sad.
*Sigh* Stuff like this just disgusts me. Maybe my liberal-feminist-hippie roots are showing but I have no problem with cohabitation in the least. The divorce rate in this country is sky high, but no attention is really paid to that. I’m not saying I don’t agree with marriage because that wouldn’t be true, but I really don’t feel that just having two married parents is what makes children happy and successful. Having two loving, caring, committed parents is what makes children happy and successful. I don’t think that a kid gives a hoot if they have two moms or two dads or one mom and one dad or whatever. Kids just need love, support, and attention. There are too many children without a home in this country. I say that if someone wants to adopt and can prove themselves to be a competent, caring individual, then by all means we should let them adopt, regardless of their relationship status or sexual orientation.
There have been MANY studies on the well being of kids placed in same-sex households. The American Pediatric Association support same sex and second parent adoptions. Studies show that the children grow up well adjusted and open-minded and run into no more problems than any other child.
There hasnt been a study on the break-up of gay families with adopted children to the best of my knowledge, but there are many statements on the record that basically say same-sex couples are often BETTER suited to parenthood because they have to work much harder than heterosexual couples to have children.
http://www.mombian.com has some great info
Marcy, thanks for the info.
One of the arguments that I’ve heard over the years against allowing gay families to adopt is that it won’t be fair to the kids because they will get made fun of by the other kids.
Which always causes me to reply “Not if they are taught not to by their parents.” I’m sure there was just as much controversy when interracial couples started to become common. And every kid that I’ve known that grew up in an interracial couple had lives that were remarkably similar to my own which makes sense since they grew up in the same area, went to the same school, had the same friends and interests as everybody else that they knew.
Seeking to not place children in cohabitating homes is based on much research. Professionals in academia realize and acknowledge this. To not place children in cohabitating homes is better for them.
Thomas,
Is placing children in single parent homes better than cohabitating homes according to this much research you mention? Because that is okay in Arkansas.
If we want to make a rule about not letting people who are cohabitating adopt children than we should let all people who want to cohabitate get married, right? So that they can establish loving married families for the kids to grow up in, right? Because that would be best for the children, right?
Let me know when Arkansas gets around to letting everybody that wants to cohabitate together for the rest of their life get married.