Land of the Free?

Today, many people of America agree that they are free individuals. They have rights, and those rights are protected powerfully by the U.S. Government.  But who decides who receives those rights, such as the rights to marry and even the rights to adopt?  One minority is always put under a microscope if they want to be just like a common American, and they are the homosexual minority of the country.

In the age of our current generation, homosexual rights are far greater than in the 1960-1990 years. But as time has passed, generations have grown more accepting and accustomed to the idea of same sex couples in society, and not to be so close minded towards others. However, many children are taught to be prejudice.  They are taught to hate things that are different, by biased people on either side of the fence. It does not seem that hate is the best thing to have in our country and it sure does not fight back.  All we can effectively face bias with is facts.

If people do not like something, some will flat out dislike it, and some will try to make up a legitimate reason to dislike it. There are many lies and myths when it comes to the gay and lesbian community.  They can be based on many different topics. These excuses can range from religion and the bible, to child molestation and old fashion thinking of morality. These statements can either be proven wrong, or they can be proven to be quite hypocritical.

One excuse against gays and lesbians is that they will go to hell because their life style is against god. This is supposedly true because they have sexual relations for recreational purposes only. This is true, because it is not a procreational form of sex.  However, what many people do not think of is that there are many forms of sex that are not procreational and are performed by heterosexuals also. Sex with birth control is one example of this, along with using a condom, and any sexual activity that does not involve intercourse.  Many of the people that use this as an excuse do at least one of these activities, and are just as “guilty” as they claim gays or lesbians to be. This is an example of a hypocritical statement.

Gays and lesbians do not want to take over anyone’s life. They only want something many Americans want, which brings me to the central point of my argument.  Many people of the gay and lesbian community would like to settle down and raise a child. However, only 21 states in the U.S. allow homosexuals to adopt children as a second parent, which means that both partners are able to obtain equal rights of the adopted child. (1) There is one question that simply must be answered. Why is it that homosexuals cannot adopt in those states?

One of the largest myths that must be put to rest about homosexual adoption is that children who are adopted in homosexual environments are more likely molested. This is not true in any sense. According to a study Adopted by the APA Council of Representatives, out of 269 cases of child molestation, 2 offenders were gay or lesbian. The study came to the ultimate conclusion that: "a child's risk of being molested by his or her relatives' heterosexual partner is over one hundred times greater than by someone who might be identifiable as being homosexual." (2)

Another excuse for why homosexuals are told not to adopt is because the child will have an “different life.” However, what do we define “different” as? The perfect family would be a family that never argues, has two loving parents of themselves and their children, and are completely capable parents. However, is it true that all heterosexual couples live by this code? Some heterosexual parents are divorced, some neglect or abuse their child and some have awful relationships with their child. This would be considered a difficult or “different” life for a child would it not? So why is it so hard for two loving homosexual parents to adopt a child?

 Even more excuses such as: homosexuals are mentally ill, lesbians are less maternal than heterosexual mothers and that homosexuals will focus more on their partner than their child, have been spoken on the matter and proven false in several cases as some are untrue and some are quite broad generalizations.(3)  As we have just deductively established, the reason for it is profiling. According to the 2000 U.S. Census, “33% of female same-sex couple households and 22% of male same-sex couple households reported at least one child under the age of 18 living in the home, which is figured to be at least 163,879 households with lesbian or gay parents as head household members. (3) With this many people already living happily like this, why should they not allow it in the U.S.?

The conclusion is that these excuses for this abominable discrimination have no substance of reason. All of these “Facts” have been proven wrong with many different tests and studies. Why is it that we still have such biased discrimination against gay and lesbian adoption. I am sure many homosexual couples would like to know.

Work Cited