Adopting Children

Why not? If a male Penguin pair, Harry and Pepper can foster a chick.

A fitness to be a parent is independent of that parent's sexuality.

Determination of fitness for things parental hinges not on if gay, people are... (Yodaspeak?)

This isn't a Gay Topic.  Decorating, cologne, musical theatre, those are gay topics.  This is about the qualifications of the applicants to provide a suitable environment for the raising of children and gayness isn't really a factor, at least not since the dark ages ended anyway.

Why this is a factor is beyond me. The ability of the couple to provide a good home should be the only factor.

Children are the product of a union between a man and a woman. A child has a mother and has a father. Each has a critical and important role in shaping the personality of the child. A child raised by a single parent or by same sex parents will develop a deficient personality that will be a handicap for the rest of his/her life. When a child has two fathers, will be hard to explain why he/she doesn't have a mother. And when he/she has two mothers, how do you explain why he/she doesn't have a father? The child will be raised in an environment that says it's OK to have two mother and no father, or two fathers and no mother. It's a distorted and misleading situation that will cause the child to forcibly accept the fact that gay parents are OK, which is not true. The child will long to live in a normal family like most of his/her peers, but society denies him/her the right to it. Same sex parenting is FORCED upon a child and he/she has no say in it. That is tyranny.

I see some people are still accumilating the gay bashing on this site and honestly people it's soooo TIRED, please let me throw you at least a penny so you can buy a clue. Why shouldn't a child be put in a loving family of the same sex? O'h I get it right, their gay, sorry but thats no excuse and if it was left up to some of you you'd rather that child be left alone with a more abusive couple as long as their not of the same sex! Please! I understand that there are people out there who have a problem with gays, but isn't it about time we moved away from the 80's and landed back into the 21st century. Who knows what you've missed since then! Last time I checked I thought adoption was more about the welfare of the child being put in a loving home rather than the sex of the couples.

We have enough kids growing up today with out a mom or a dad. Why would you want to put a kid in a confusing situation where they have either two moms or two dads, aren't kids screwed up enough today.

Not sure how the rating system works with this list, but I assume that 5 or "great" means you support the proposition. I have met some terrific gay parents, single and committed. Barring adoptions to a loving family that is otherwise qualified isn't just wrong, it's stupid.

Why not? They certainly can't do a worse job than modern straight parents. (1) Divorce rates that are a joke to the modern world (2) Standardized test scores that are a national embarrassment compared to European/Asian nations (3) Obesity rates/Depression/Suicide rates that are shocking. Why should straight people have all the blame for f#cking up a generation of fat/stupid kids? Besides, the typical demographic of a gay couple adopting is (1) upper middle class and (2) fairly well-educated. . .meaning that they usually have excellent resources to provide for a needy child. You people against gay adoption are bigots and care nothing of equally opportunity. Feel free to leave America. . .

Since most gay kids are brought up by straight families,it should be OBVIOUS that Gay couples are perfectly capable of raising straight children.The most important factors in raising children are LOVE and DEDICATION.Gay or Straight parents is a moot issue.

I am on both sides of the fence when it comes to gay people. I see it this way, if they really want children why not let them adopt.

I think my sister who is a lesbian would be a fanastic parent. She's absolutely fabulous with our niece. There are so many children being abandoned by their biological heterosexual parents, so why not let gay couple adopt - especially if they are a well established couple? By that I mean that they have been together for years, own their own house etc etc...

To GoneAway's comment--PERVERSION? Are you kidding me?! What is wrong with you people? Gay people have the same abilities as parents as straight people do. Are you saying, just loving each other, that's perversion? Or do you mean having anal sex in front of children? Didn't think so. For the last damn time--people are BORN gay and lesbian, they can't help it and it isn't their fault! Having children is something we should all have rights to, no matter what our color, religon, or sexual preference. Don't take away such a wonderful thing from these people because of your religon--that's ignorant and discriminative.

Gone Away while you may not agree with the gay lifestyle do you really think perversion is the right word? I'm not gay, but i still took incredible offense to your completely close-minded comment. And when i look around at all of the orphans in the world, in desperate need of parents I don't really think denying loving, caring, good people the right to adopt them, is the solution to the problem....and in response to comments about growing up with both a mother and a father, plenty of the children in this country live in single parent homes, somehow this is acceptable.

Here's an idea: take a system (adoption/foster care) that is broken and failing miserably in its mission, and introduce a whole new controversial set of participants and figure you're curing the entire system. Sorry, but the logic of they couldn't be any worse than straight parents doesn't seem a compelling argument for changing the criteria for adoption that is already failing so often. Duh.

Can't do any worse than straight parents is not the main argument for this. The main argument is that allowing gay people to adopt will substantially increase the chance that orphaned children will be able to grow up in a loving home, as well as creating more competition within the system, decreasing the possibility of less desirable candidates being successful.

CanadaSucks has it right.

It doesn't appear that everyone fully appreciates the plight of hard-to-adopt children. A zero-parenting situation is seldom better than a same-gender parenting situation. From what I recall, 47 US states allow lesbians and gays to adopt while 3 states automatically deny such requests. To me, very thoughtful case-by-case consideration of the best possible care for the child should be the first concern. Also, follow-up testing of ALL foster and would-be adopting parents should remain an important duty to ensure a child is not neglected, abused or unhappy with their matchup. The bottom line is sometimes the most qualified candidates for a bounced-around youth are parents who can understand what is it like to be shunned. The final call should take into account the individual specifics of the situation and not be subject to any big leaps in logic.

More and more children are being tossed into orphanages and rotating throughout the system, never finding a suitable home. I say that if homosexuals want to adopt, then let them. Most homosexuals are law-abiding citizens who will do their best to raise their children. Many people believe that gays would expose the children to sexual perversion and possibly molest them. Nevermind that many straights molest and abuse adopted children. This is the point of gay rights- not for special rights, but equal rights- the right to adopt a child and raise and care for that child. The answer is to expand the adoption program and weed out corruption by assigning case caseworkers to each child (who will actually do their job) and have them visit the new homes of these children, whether the adopters are gay OR straight.

Absolutely not. You forefit the right to have children when you refuse to make an effort to create your own. It's called TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS. That is all.

You don't need a mother and a father...why do I say this? My mom is a single parent, and my father abandoned me before I was born. My step-father molested me, and with my mother I have always been better off. I think if two people can love that child equally, it shouldn't matter if it is two males/females, as long as that child feels loved, and is taken care of properly.

I don't know whether I should be allowed to adopt children or not. While I believe gays should have the same opportunities and rights as everyone else, allowing gays to adopt is probably a bad idea. First, I would never want to grow up with 2 fathers, or 2 mothers. You simply need a mother and a father. Allowing adoption to gays would definetely affect the attitude of the children. After all, how would you like it, being a kid and growing up with 2 men being your father and mother at the same time?