Currently, there are 12 states reviewing legislation to limit the ability of homosexuals to adopt children. This makes me bonkers. It’s the kind of thing I term “indirect evil.” In other words, the folks trying to prohibit this aren’t going out and committing crimes, they’re simply trying to prevent an enormous amount of good from taking place.
Indirect evil.
If you don’t mind, I’m going to focus on Christians for a moment. And I’m going to posit that if you are a Christian, and you believe that homosexuals should be prevented from adopting children, then not only are you a hypocrite, but you’re pretty much putting yourself against the word of God.
Look: let’s say that you believe that the bible says that homosexuality is a sin. Fine. Go to the same book, and find me a place where it says that you (yes, you, the reader) are not a sinner. Find the place where Jesus tells a stoning-minded crowd: let the person without sin throw the first stone. Read that passage again. Now again.
Then tell me why you, a sinner, should be allowed to adopt children when gays shouldn't. See what I’m saying? Even if homosexuality is a sin: so what? Personally, I don’t think it’s a sin at all… but that doesn’t matter in the context of this blog entry.
What matters: Is there an additional danger to the child that comes from being adopted by a homosexual couple? The answer, as far as I have been able to research, is absolutely not.
Love to all. Even you, the lady who didn't clean up her Poodle Poop.
19 comments:
Thank you for posting that. I am so tired of people claiming to be Christians running around spreading hate and negativity. Who cares if a gay couple adopts a child? Isn't it more important that the child have loving parents rather than no one to care for them? Why can't people see the bigger picture.
BTW, I love reading your blog. You have good points to make and really give me something to think about at times.
I am not so sure about this one Rich.
It's not the sinning that bothers me. It's more the fact that a child to have a healthy life needs an equal balance of love from a mother figure and a father figure.
Yes, yes.. tons of people grow up with one parent or none, and still are healthy.
However, common wisdom has it that you need both parents (male and female) to be a complete person.
You preach it brother! I am a Christian, and I wholeheartedly agree with you. I'm so put out with the church I could scream. My God is about love and hope and peace. Jesus was about love and care and compassion. Today's church has turned the message of love into a message of judgement that completely isolates and ignores those in need and thrives in hypocrisy and yes, hate. Oh dear, I'm on my soapbox. Sorry.
ITS -
Even if you're correct about "common wisdom," which I'm not sure that you are, what does it matter in this context? I mean, if you're going to judge the quality of couplehood, you probably have to go a lot further than gay/not gay couples, and examine parenting styles, workloads, plans for participation, etc. And before you do that, you have to develop an accurate metric of what makes a good parent.
But back to the "common wisdom" thing... Other than homosexuals birthing children due to pure biology, what's your case for this?
Love ya, bro.
I also agree that children should be in a home with a mother figure and a father figure. But who am I to say what gender each figure is. I think a two parent home is good just on the basis that you can work together as a team and help each other out when you are overstressed.
I just think that certain people want to believe that what they are doing is the best and right way - and maybe it is for their family. But I have a problem when people shove their beliefs onto others.
"Live and let live"
Amen, Brother Rich!
I'd much rather see a gay couple adopt a child, love and nurture it, than a straight couple who then proceed to beat the child, degrade it, chain it up, and otherwise abuse it. Clearly, not all adoptive couples proceed this way, but it certainly has/does happen.
I am the product of a single-parent home and pretty much hated my life because of that. I think two loving parents of either gender is better than no parents at all. Currently there are more children who need homes than there are parents willing to adopt them. Most of the couples waiting to adopt (read affluent white couples) want a child who mirrors their appearance and they typically want newborns. Gay couples tend toward greater flexibility in their willingness to adopt children of different ethnicities, age, and special needs.
I partly agree with ITS and partly agree with you. I am a Christian, I believe homosexuality is a sin. But then I also believe adultery, witchcraft, gossip etc. etc. etc. are sins, and NO adoption agency I know of look into those things, so forbidding adoption just on the grounds of the couple being gay is just wrong!
That said I don't know how it would be for a child to grow up with two fathers/mothers instead of one of each... something tells me it can't be more harmful than for a child to grow up in... say... a divorced household with two fathers AND two mothers. IMHO that is what should be researched rather than just stating "Gay wrong! Gay no adopt! Gay sub-human!"
Aurelius: thanks kindly. Feel free to link with wild abandon.
:-)
Thanks for your great post. I agree with you. Especially the "those of you without sin..." Too many children languish in foster care. If two people have the ability to love and care for a child why not let them. Look at all the "straights" who make lousy parents. A kid just wants to be loved and have the security of knowing he will be wanted.
The "sin" argument (or counter) is very well put!
What gets me is this: I've read the Bible more than once and Jesus never said anything (that I know of) concerning homosexuality. However, he did say that people who divorce and remarry are sinners, yet a majority of Christians I know have divorced and remarried. So why is it that is suddenly okay, but it's still a sin to be a homosexual (supposedly). My uncle happens to be a homosexual and he is the most loving, caring, giving person I've ever known and I just can't believe he's going to hell because he's gay.
My apologies if this comment is a duplicate - I'm a Christian who completely agrees with you (visiting from BE).
Excellent post and an important point.
Thanks for sharing-
Rich--thank you for making this post. I agree with you completely!
I used to work with a gay man that had twins via a surrogate. He and his partner love their kids as much as any other parents I know, including myself.
We're paying our politicians good money to work on shit like this? Let's get some real lawmaking going that will genuinely benefit society.
I am SO with you on this one. Truly. I think kids need to be loved. Whether it's by one parent or two parents, same sex, different sexes, doesn't matter one iota to me.
Rich,
That is an interesting take on how to defeat the whole, homosexual adoption is wrong debate. After all, since we are all sinners, how can we possibly qualify in judging the morality of the situation where practicing homosexuals actively engage in adopting a child to raise them in their particular idea of a family environment.
I guess you think that you win the argument by default by using the “we are all sinners” tactic. It’s a good effort on your part, but bad form. You don’t get off that easy.
Following your logic, then, the local Priest, Pastor, Reverend, Parson, Rabbi, Imam etc. can be an avowed practicing homosexual, or an adulterer actively involved with another woman (or man, in the case of my denomination which has female priests), or drug addict, or alcoholic, or Satan worshipper on the side etc.
After all, we are all sinners. That shouldn’t have anything to do with our lives or what we want for ourselves, right? And all sins are the same. Having a lustful fantasy about a girl in your High School class is surely on the same par with actually raping her. Right?
Wrong.
There is a valid reservation on the part of society for accepting the notion of children raised in a homosexual environment. Hence the controversy.
Obviously, homosexuals can’t reproduce. Therefore, they are a dying breed, so to speak. Allowing them to adopt children, who aren’t necessarily homosexual themselves, only threatens to expand the amount of human extinction. What I mean by this is, of course, assuming that the homosexual couple are able to proselytize the children in their care to adopt their homosexual lifestyle, We have now even more human being who will in the future die leaving no progeny. While it is quite possible for a child in this environment to grow up heterosexual, it is also possible that some children will grow up homosexual due to their exposure of what they are taught to be normal.
While I am no fan of Evolution per say, It seems quite obvious that in the interest of the preservation of the human race, homosexual indoctrination of children is probably not a good idea. I am all for their right to co-habitate. I draw the line at parenthood. A child needs both a mother and a father. That is nature’s way, and we would do well to respect it.
You know, all those so-called Christians you are addressing aren't gonna care what you or anyone else has to say about anything. They are always right, after all (bullshit, right).
They will all go home tonight, and every night, and perform the same routine: Drink all the booze, pop all the pills, sniff all the coke and beat the wife and kids. You better believe they will be in church on sunday, though.
Um, nicely written. U could've written Brokeback Mountain my friend!
Post a Comment