The Nature of the Same-Sex Adoption Debate

Anonymous


The Nature of the Same-Sex Adoption Debate


As of 2013, there was a significant gap between the number of orphaned children that needed homes and the number of prospective parents willing to take them. In Arkansas at that time, a law banned single couples from adoption. This banned gay/lesbian and straight unmarried couples from adopting children. Gay rights advocates believed that this ban was unacceptable. Bans that reduced the number of prospective parents would be counterproductive to the then-current situation. But in 2015, the United States legalized same-sex marriage nation-wide, so if that ban is still in effect, it would discriminate against single men and women from adopting children, and that's a whole different discussion.



There are many reasons to support same-sex adoption.



First, many same-sex couples have good jobs, stable incomes, genuine compassion, and seem to be willing to give the best possible care to a child in their custody. Second, bans against same-sex adoption hurt existing families that consist of a same-sex couple with adopted children, because the children can be legally ripped away from their homes and the only people who care about them. Third, the question about whether same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt is ultimately about whether same-sex couples should be allowed to get married and form families. It is impossible to oppose same-sex marriage and support same-sex adoption at the same time, because the underlying assumption in both controversial topics is about whether or not homosexuality itself is immoral.



If homosexuality is considered to be an immoral choice, then homosexuals should not marry. Assuming that homosexuality is immoral, married people may act on their homosexual urges and break the hearts of their opposite-sex spouses, and single people would fornicate instead of keeping themselves pure for the matrimonial bed. And homosexuals, under the same condition, should not adopt, because the homosexual lifestyle is not a good example of the children. Meanwhile, the pro-gay side does not hold a moral judgment on homosexuality. Homosexuality is considered as an acceptable form of sexuality. Because homosexuality is in the spectrum of sexual orientations, homosexuals should be allowed to access marriage, adoption, and other societal benefits that heterosexuals take for granted.



If we live in a world where homosexuality is harmful to homosexuals and the people around them in mainstream society (not single-sex prison society in which situational homosexual rape can occur), then homosexuals should not be allowed to marry or adopt children. Otherwise, homosexuality is not a threat to society.

The Nature of the Same-Sex Adoption Debate
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