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Essay on Same Sex Couples Adoption Rights

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Should Same Sex Couples Have the Same Adoption Rights as Heterosexual Couples?

Krystal Davis

COM/220

March 13, 2012
Barbara Plyler

Should Same Sex Couples Have the Same Adoption Rights as Heterosexual Couples?

In 2008, President Barack Obama stated there are too many children who need loving parents to deny one group of people adoption rights (eQuality, 2005). A child will benefit from a healthy, loving home, whether the parents are gay or not (eQuality, 2005). With that statement in 2008 from the individual who holds the most powerful authority in the United States, why are gay and lesbian couples today still battling adoption laws? When in fact while trying to adopt and raise children a couple’s sexual …show more content…

Miraculously in 2010 Florida acknowledged that the adoption ban was unconstitutional (eQuality, 2005). In previous years homosexuals interested in the adoption process would use foster care to acquire the same nurturing family that heterosexuals had acquired thus, circumventing the system. The unconstitutional ban had the ability to deter potential same sex adoptive parents because they feared automatic exclusion. With the increased pressure from the gay community to allow same sex adoptions many adoption agencies are becoming more accommodating to homosexuals. However, the obstacles that same sex couples encounter tend to minimize the whole family structure and make the family unit vulnerable (Brown, Smalling, Groza, & Ryan, 2009). Unfortunately, there is a number of legal hurdles gay and lesbian couples face when trying to adopt therefore, the system has to be circumvented. Also same sex couples encounter individuals who subconsciously and consciously discriminate through a variety of behaviors including evident harassment or social exclusion (Brown, Smalling, Groza, & Ryan, 2009). It would seem as if the drive to prevent same sex couples from the benefit of joint adoption starts with the discrimination of these couples rather than the welfare of the child (Johnson, n.d). In fact, these discriminations include accusations of psychological disorders and a higher occurrence of domestic violence.

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