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Gay Adoption

 

            
             It is far to early to know what sort of effect Rosie O"Donnel's coming out, and now the most visible gay parent in the country, is going to have on gay adoption, but what it has done is brought the topic to kitchen tables and living rooms across the country.
             Researchers estimate that the total number of children nationwide living with at least one gay parent ranges from six to 14 million.
             The vast majority of states no longer deny custody or visitation to a person based on sexual orientation. State agencies and courts now apply a "best interest of the child" standard to decide these cases.
             Florida's 1977 law is the only law in the nation that bans gays and lesbians form adopting children, this law was passed in the Anita Bryant "Save Our Children" campaign against gay rights. Sadly, six states around the country (Arkansas, Idaho Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah) are considering bans on gay and lesbian foster care and/or adoption.
             The American Academy of Pediatrics made a decision earlier this year to support second-parent adoption by same sex couples, but unfortunately this contrasts with legal realities surrounding gay adoption in the United States, where laws differ from state to state.
             I think we should encourage Washington State to continue to support gay and lesbians as foster as well as adoptive parents.
             All research having been done to date has proven that children being raised in a gay or lesbian household grow up as successfully as children being raised in a heterosexual household. In fact, not a single study has shown that a child has of lesbian or gay parents have been disadvantaged because of their parent's sexual orientation.
             Good parenting is not influenced by sexual orientation, but rather by a parent's ability to create a nurturing and loving home.
             Like many adults in this country, a majority of gays and lesbians are in committed, stable relationships. Granted, some of these relationships have problems, just like heterosexual relationships.


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