A Brief Note On Gay And Lesbian Families

In “Laws Should Support Loving Households, Straight or Not” (2002), Becky Birtha argues that homosexual couples should have the same right to adopting kids as heterosexual couples.

The purpose of this essay is to give a clear understanding of gay and lesbian families. This essay will discuss relative information and problems of this client group focusing on the demographic, history, polices, issues faced by the group as well as relevant support groups and programs available. This essay will discuss these topics by drawing on existing published scholarly literature and relevant, credible published sources. The second part of this essay will be a reflection of an event that relates to the LGBTIQA Community. This reflection will discuss the event as well as thoughts and feeling of a participant in the event. For the purpose of this essay Gay and lesbian will be defined as “A person who is attracted primarily to members of the same sex. Although it can be used for any sex e.g. gay man, gay woman, gay person, “lesbian” is sometimes the preferred term for women who are attracted to women.” ("LGBT Terms and Definitions | International Spectrum", 2016).

What is a family? There are numerous ways to define “family”. For example, in 2001 The United States Census Bureau’s definition of a family states: “A family consists of a householder and one or more other people living in the same household who are related to the householder by birth, marriage, or adoption.” Nevertheless, families come in several forms of ages, races, and ethnic background. Same sex couples weren’t considered a family, even if it was legal in many states. Years later, in 2015, The Supreme Court ruled to legalize same sex marriages in all fifty states. Other than same sex couples there are other types of families such as affiliated kin, interracial, traditional, extended, childless, and nuclear families. These families are

Many people from older generations argue that same sex parenting is an abomination resisting any other insight into what is truly best for children. But it is true that hundreds of thousands of children are placed in foster care awaiting their forever families, and these children should not be denied a permanent family because of narrow mindedness. It does not take a scientist to figure that two people of the same sexual orientation cannot biologically conceive a child on their own; therefore adoption is the only option homosexuals have. While adoption

More gay and lesbian people are having kids than before. According to Sunday Morning on NBC, 125,000 gay or lesbian couples had adopted a child in 2010. This may seem like a small percentage of the population, however this is the first time that those numbers had ever been tallied. LGBT people cannot reproduce as easily as a heterosexual couple. This allows the LGBT couple to plan out and think ahead for the future. Currently there are an estimated 14,100 foster children in gay and lesbian homes awaiting adoption. Also interesting statistics in this field, over half of gay men, and 41% of lesbian women want to have children. There is also an estimated 2 million gay or lesbian people in the United States that are interested in adoption. Lastly there are approximately 4% of the children in the U.S. that are currently being raised in a LGBT home (The Williams Institute

Gay adoption is a subject which is widely debated. However over recent years gay adoption has allowed for most gay couples who want to adopt young children and give them a good quality of life, which they would have if they lived with their biological parents or a heterosexual couple, to do so.

More and more LGBT couples want to adopt. By allowing LGBT couples to adopt, you are taking more children out of foster care and placing them in loving homes. LGBT parents typically adopt the children with the greatest needs. Twenty-one of the fifty states currently allow for second-parent adoption. A majority of states no longer deny custody or visitation rights based on sexual orientation. There is no evidence that LGBTs are unfit parents (Lyons 25-26).

Many states laws deny children in foster care, healthy, loving homes simply because of a potential parent’s sexual orientation (Gray, 2006), The catholic church as well as other organization’s oppose gay adoption based upon religious teachings, while others debate the legality of it (Gray, 2006). In today’s society, many children grow up to be emotionally stable and successful whether they have a heterosexual couple as parents or a same sex couple as parents. Gay parent adoptions are an equal right, as they are becoming more mainstream and are as equally stable as heterosexual adoptions.

Recently, research has shown that gay and lesbian parents share the parental characteristics of support, protection, and stability that children need. Sexual orientation should not be problem when adopting children. Children adopted by same-sex couples are more likely to be placed with parents who are patient, dedicated to their children, and have respect for the differences of the

There are currently 107,011 kids in the U.S. foster care system that are hoping and waiting to be adopted, so just imagine how many of those children could be adopted if more lesbian and gay couples were able to adopt. According to lifelong adoption agencies more and more gay and lesbian couples are becoming parents through artificial insemination, a surrogate, or LGBT adoption. It’s hard for same sex couples to adopt because adoption agencies that have religious beliefs against same sex couples reject them, or a state law prohibits same sex parents. Same sex couples face much opposition from a large number of people even though they do not have well supported arguments for their beliefs. Many studies have been done in an attempt to figure

This would also give children in the foster care system the opportunity to receive the love, care and security children with traditional family receive. Having a same sex couple raise a child allows that child to have two parents who would be better able to monitor, educate and provide financially for that child. Kids in single parent home will only have one parent to attend to him/her, the single parent often struggle to provide for that child and leaves that parent stressed

Over the years, gay society has been growing and being more accepted and respected by our society, many rights for them have been approved so that the homosexual citizens live fairly and well. But the gay adoption has been a controversial situation.

The word “family” is unique, special, and controversial among different cultures and ethnicities. As defined by Random House Western Dictionary, a family is “any group of persons closely related by blood, as parents, children, uncles, aunts, and cousins” (Dictionary.com). Although the definition from Random House follows the infamous proverb of, “blood is thicker than water,” my definition of family does not. Family is not defined or restricted by blood relations. In my mind, a family is simply a group of people, who loves, supports, and helps each other unconditionally, and endlessly. Regardless of one’s sexual orientation or preference, all families embody these common principles. Thus, a family unites its members through the strong

“About 19 percent of same-sex couples raising children reported having an adopted child in the house in 2009, up from just 8 percent in 2000.” As society changes there opinions on same-sex marriage they more gays and lesbians are adopting. There was recent rise in same-sex adoption but there is still people in U.S. that are against same-sex adoption. Recently a judge in Kentucky objected gay and lesbian adoption. This caused a huge uproar and had people thinking whether or not gay and lesbian adoption is okay for the children. One article feels that state legislators are putting more hurdles in the way of adoption and preventing children from getting into loving and caring homes (“Adoptions are declining,”2017). Gays and lesbians being able to adopt will provide loving homes, get kids out of foster care, and they choose to be parents.

Gay and lesbian marriages or partnerships have been increasing since the 1980’s (Macionis & Plummer, 2012). Moreover, in some countries such as the United States, gay couples are allowed to adopt children (Macionis & Plummer, 2012). Kimmel