My dream for the LGBTQ community is simple - that we have the right to live our lives by our rights of self-determination instead of having other people - based on their ignorance and/or religious beliefs - decide what we can or cannot do.
And that includes the dream of raising a family if we so desire. A wonderful post by Ellen Kahn of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation accentuates this:
In the last year, Oklahoma and Kansas have enshrined anti-LGBT+ adoption measures into law, allowing child welfare organisations to turn away qualified parents, including same-sex and transgender couples, interfaith couples, and single parents. And politicians in the U.S. Congress last session unconscionably tried to pass a similar amendment that would allow this kind of “licence to discriminate” nationwide.
Meanwhile, experts across the country resoundingly agree – children in care need a larger pool of qualified prospective parents – not a smaller one.
We know that 2 million LGBT+ people are interested in becoming parents. We also know that children need families – and also succeed in families. It is ridiculous and inhumane to put up blatantly discriminatory hurdles for qualified adopters and to put prejudice over the wellbeing of the children we are all trying so hard to serve.
As a lesbian mother, I know that my ability to be a loving, supportive parent is not at all compromised by my identity. And as a social worker, who has counselled so many LGBT+ families through this process, I’ve seen the amazing, transformational results for both the children and parents. We bring wisdom, commitment, and compassion to our role as parents – we are good at this.
The entire post deserves a read and share. It's that good.
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