Homosexuals And Adoption

9 Pages 2339 Words

Some lesbian and gay couples are fortunate enough to live in a state where it is legal for same-sex partners to jointly adopt a child or for one partner to adopt the biological child of the other partner through a second-parent, stepparent, or domestic partner adoption. These select state laws ensure that both partners are considered legal parents of the child. Unfortunately, for many other same-sex couples, joint or second-parent adoptions are not available. Gay and lesbian couples increasingly are going to court seeking to adopt children, acquire parental rights, take on shared last names and secure the benefits similar to those of heterosexual couples. Various empirical studies and legal debates have attempted to decipher what is best not only for the children, but for society as well. The question, however, still persists: Should homosexual couples have the same legal rights as heterosexual couples do on child adoption?
The child’s best interests: It is what everyone, on both sides of the issue, disputes when fighting for whether lesbian and gay men should or should not be parents. It becomes somewhat subjective, however, in that the ability of a person that one considers to be a good parent lies in the eye of the beholder. The contemporary view to this debate is based upon who makes a successful parent. Those who support same-sex adoptions declare that sexual orientation should not matter in deciding who makes a suitable parent. The Child Welfare League of America’s Standards of Excellence for Adoption Services state, “Applicants should be assessed on the basis of their abilities to successfully parent a child needing family membership and not on their race, ethnicity or culture, income, age, marital status, religion, appearance, differing lifestyles, or sexual orientation.” (Kreisher, 2002, p.2). Categorizing parents as gay or heterosexual could imply that a parent’s sexual orientation is a decisive c...