Sorry Peter but lgbts are raising children . . . and are doing it quite well
Our friend Peter seems to be in overdrive today with the nastiness. Today he has a feature entitled Can Homosexual Couples Have Children?
Now if you were to say that this is a balanced opinion piece with a lot of research, then I have an island I want you to buy.
Peter's piece is a ridiculous piece of tripe devoid of facts; its aim is to exploit people's ignorance regarding same sex households with children:
When we bring up the fact that homosexual couples are far from “equal” in part because they cannot produce children, pro-homosexuality activists swiftly turn to the many straight couples that are infertile. This polemical trick is as deceptive as comparing counterfeit, sodomy-based “marriages” to interracial marriages. Black-white couples — a man and a woman joined together as one — produce beautiful children. Past laws banning such marriages were wrong. (Yes, Christians and others sinned in using the Bible to rationalize racism and slavery.) In contrast, homosexual sex acts are a biological and anatomical dead end — in addition to being a rebellion against our Creator that grieves Him as He is grieved by all sin.
Homosexuality, a human wrong, has nothing to do with marriage, or civil rights for that matter. Only a fool, or perhaps a manipulative social crusader, would argue that the modern tragedy of “gay” parenthood — intentionally (and selfishly) placing helpless children in homes that are motherless or fatherless by design — is “equal” to natural, mom-and-dad parenthood and should be treated as such in the law.
Unlike homosexuals, infertile straight couples are not mocking God’s plan. In fact, they are trying desperately to fulfill it, and copy it, using methods both high-tech (invitro) and low-tech (adoption). The fact that homosexual couples have access to the same technology and also can now easily adopt babies does not make the plight of children placed in same-sex households any less tragic, or more “moral.” Rather, by turning the perversion of homosexuality into “just one more kind of love” (to quote the homosexual children’s book, Daddy’s Roommate), they are putting THEIR wants above the best interests of children.
Well in the face of that, allow me to present a few facts:
In 1990, an estimated 6 to 14 million children in the United States had at least one gay or lesbian parent (Baker v. State, 1999).
The American Psychological Association, representing more than 155,000 psychologists, states that children of gay and lesbian parents are at no disadvantage psychologically or socially compared to children of heterosexual parents.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the nation’s leading pediatric authority with 57,000 members, says that children who grow up with gay and/or lesbian parents fare as well in emotional, cognitive, social and sexual functioning as children with straight parents.
The National Association of Social Workers, with nearly 150,000 members, agrees that research on gay and lesbian parenting shows a total absence of pathological findings in their children. “Not a single study has found children of gay or lesbian parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents. Indeed, the evidence to date suggests that home environments provided by gay and lesbian parents are as likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to support and enable children’s psychosocial growth.” -- Charles J. Patterson, researcher at the University of Virginia, 2004
Sixty percent of adoption agencies accept applications from gay and lesbian couples, and about 40% of agencies have placed children with parents they know to be gay or lesbian, according to a 2003 survey by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute.
Children of gay and lesbian parents experience no significant differences in quality of peer relationships, nor do they experience more struggles with self-esteem.
LGBTS have children through different means. Many have partaken in relationships with the opposite sex before coming out, others adopt, while others engage in surrogate parenthood.
What Peter is attempting to do is invoke that old stereotype about "the parts don't fit."
But in the case of raising and nurturing children, Peter's stereotypes doesn't fit the bill. The fact of the matter is that lgbts are raising children and are doing it well.
It always amazes me that when folks like Peter talk about lgbts raising children, they accuse us of being selfish. They use that semantic language that gays are intentionally (and selfishly) placing helpless children in homes that are motherless or fatherless by design.
Raising children is a huge responsibility. I doubt that the vast majority of folks who choose to do so (gay and straight) are doing it for selfish reasons.
And I think that those who choose that road need all of the support and encouragement they can get.
The question here is not can homosexual couples have children. The question is why should be a caste system overseeing homes that can provide a child love and support.