Two Dads? Why Not?
I was close to tears while reading the piece about gay couples being told "No… you can't adopt" ("No Kids Allowed," by Julian Sanchez, Aug. 31-Sept. 6). Please understand, I WAS very much against gay marriage and gay adoption until I had a chance to talk to a lesbian who shared with me the pains a gay couple she knows has experienced, and the horrible things the State has done with children in their care. These two men (in the Orlando area) who had been together for many years were taking in children nobody else would take. They had kids who were severely handicapped, loved them and gave them a stable home environment. In one case, a child who had been with them since birth (he was about 8 years old) was taken by the state because of the men being gay. This is simply immoral to rip a child from the only family he has ever known. Frankly, I find it criminal. I am a Christian, and while I am still undecided about gay marriage, I am NOT opposed to gay couples giving a loving home to children who are sitting in the care of the state and the foster care system. If a heterosexual couple isn't available to adopt a child, then for goodness' sake let a gay couple adopt that child! I firmly believe that not having a home is far worse than having two moms or two dads.
David R. Meyer
Valrico
Thank you for an excellent article. I am angry that innocent children will languish in Florida orphanages and foster care because of misinformation and prejudice. How can your gender preference affect how you parent a child? If a couple is willing to take on the responsibility of fostering a loving environment for a child, why does it matter whether the couple is male/female, male/male or female/female? I am a heterosexual married woman whose parents took in foster children for at least 30 years. I've seen firsthand the neglect and abuse these children rescued from "accepted" male/female households have endured. Anita Bryant set in motion a prejudice that still stands today: a full-page ad stated homosexuals molest children. She got the backing of folks in high places and the ignorant law was passed. The truth is, studies have shown that children raised in this environment are more tolerant, that they are probably given more attention by their mom/mom, dad/dad… that they come out normal. It has been proven that children who spend the majority of their lives in foster care, bouncing from one home to the next without the option of a stable home environment, are more likely to end up as prison statistics. I would argue if someone wants to give a child a family, a place where he or she can find comfort, security and love, what gives Florida the right to say no? Why should children suffer needlessly when there are couples who want them?
Deb Kelley
Tampa
He'll Tell You Why Not
What never ceases to amaze me is how liberal mullet-wrappers like the Weekly Planet articulate opinions on certain issues with such confidence, as if they were reality, when the facts, historical antecedents and/or common sense dictate otherwise. You pull hard on the heartstrings of readers with tear-jerking stories and mask the truth with loose comparisons and suspect facts.
The author states "there is little evidence that children raised by gay couples fare worse than other children."
LITTLE EVIDENCE??????? Try a few hundred thousand years of man's evolution where only a man and a woman have been responsible for raising children. You're a liberal; you understand and support the evolution of man. Why then has evolution (natural selection) frowned on homosexuality with regards to the propagation of the planet? What about thousands of years of history where the thought of two men or two women who engage in homosexuality raising children was completely preposterous?
For anyone to propose that a couple who engage in homosexuality, who cannot biologically produce children, are equal parents to my wife and myself who swore our love before God, in a Catholic Church, are MAN and WOMAN and produced our children via natural biological means, is quite frankly a joke. It's a shame that America is even engaged in this discourse given the basis of the gay adoption issue is so baseless.
Tom Voiland
CEO, Executive Partner Services
Tampa
This article appears in Sep 14-20, 2005.