Children adoption by gays

Children adoption by gays

Should gay couples be allowed to adopt children?

Thesis statement: Same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt children.

Such a move prevents discrimination of persons based on sexual orientation.

1. Introduction:
2. The US Supreme Court landmark ruling in 2015 allowed same-sex marriage was adopted. The court legalized same-sex marriage in all of the 50 states. This ruling struck down all bans on same-sex marriage by the country.
3. The United Kingdom same-sex couples act of 2013- on 29th march 2014 British parliament passed the same-sex couples act (Baccara et al., 2014). This ruling preceded the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States.
4. Background information to this discussion
5. Equality and equity was the baseline for allowing same-sex marriages.
6. “Guaranteeing the dignity and equality of the LGBT community is the biggest human right challenge,” says Hillary Clinton, former US secretary of state (Takács et al., 2016).

• Definition of terms

1. Gays/Lesbians
2. Gays- these are same-sex males
3. Lesbians- these are gay women
4. Bisexual- persons attracted to both men and women
5. Transgender- persons not exclusively masculine or feminine.
6. Harassment of children
   1. Different sexual orientation leading to exclusion
   2. Stigmatization- this is shaming and humiliating children raised by gay parents
   3. Discrimination- children raised by gay parents being likely to be side-lined in accessing government services
7. Children’s struggles
   1. Psychological torture- this type of pain relies primarily on the psychological effects of children being neglected owing to the sexual orientation of their breadwinners. “Despite preconceived ideas that children raised by gays develop psychological problems, not a single study shows that children of homosexual parents are disadvantaged,” says Charlotte Petterson in his article Child Development (Goldberg et al., 2014).
   2. Personal development of children is affected when the child is stigmatized and discriminated against.
   3. Extreme emotions overwhelm the children. Children raised by gay parents do not comprehend/understand why society has turned its back against them.
8. Impact on the children
9. Future sexual orientation (Likelihood to be gay)- research done involving over 300 children shows that children raised by parent gay are no more likely (than those raised by heterosexual parents) to become gays (Golombok et al.,2014). The sample shows very little or no significant influence on the development of any sexual orientation among the children.
10. Difficult to cope with parents- owing to societal humiliation, the children find it hard to deal with parents whose sexual orientation is different from others.
11. Low self-esteem- children and peers raised by gay parents develop low self-esteem towards themselves. Not because their parents are gay, but because of the societal side-lining that they face.

• Homosexuality & Harassment

1. Pedophilia- this is sexual attraction to children. There is no scientific research that legitimately links homosexuality to pedophilia.
2. Offenders not necessarily gay- sexual offenders are by far more likely to be heterosexual as opposed to gay, as found in research. The research entailed cases involving a boy and a man. 74% of the men were found to be in a sexual relationship with another female (Weiner & Zinner, 2015).
3. Harassment by relatives- the research found that the risk of a child being molested by his relatives who are not gay is 100 times higher than one whose sexual orientation is homo.

• Comparison of children of gay & heterosexual parents

Personal & psychological problems persist across both groups. Mental and personal challenges encountered by children are dependent on other factors other than sexual orientation, provided no stigmatization occurs.

1. Custody of children
   1. Bearing of children by heterosexuals- couples whose members are of the opposite sex have a natural ability to sire children. For those unable to sire children of their own, adoption is allowed. Why shouldn’t adoption be equally allowed for same-sex couples?
   2. Gays’ inability to sire children- Same-sex couples have no ability to sire children biologically. On the same note, they should be given a right to become parents by being allowed to adopt (Baccara et al., 2014). It will ensure equity and equality in becoming parents to children.
2. Conclusion

Equality implies that we should not discriminate based on marital status, gender, tribal lines, race, age, family status, disability, and religion. Similarly, we should not discriminate against anybody based on their sexual orientation. Since heterosexual couples can enjoy parenthood, the same rights should be granted to gay parents. We should focus on the bigger picture of allowing orphans and other children to have parents despite the parents’ sexual orientation and allow child adoption.

References

Baccara, M., Collard-Wexler, A., Felli, L., & Yariv, L. (2014). Child-adoption matching:  Preferences for gender and race. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 6(3),     133-58.

Goldberg, A. E., Kinkler, L. A., Moyer, A. M., & Weber, E. (2014). Intimate relationship challenges in early parenthood among lesbian, gay, and heterosexual couples adopting via the child welfare system. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 45(4), 221.

Golombok, S., Mellish, L., Jennings, S., Casey, P., Tasker, F., & Lamb, M. E. (2014). Adoptive    gay father families: Parent-child relationships and children’s psychological adjustment.           Child Development, 85(2), 456-468.

Takács, J., Szalma, I., & Bartus, T. (2016). Social attitudes toward adoption by same-sex couples in Europe. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45(7), 1787-1798.

Weiner, B. A., & Zinner, L. (2015). Attitudes toward straight, gay male, and transsexual   parenting. Journal of homosexuality, 62(3), 327-339.