Adoption, Gay and Lesbian

Gay and Lesbian Adoptive Parents

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, many thousands of same-sex couples live with adopted children. However, because data on gay or lesbian single persons who are also parenting adopted children were not also collected, this number is thought to be significantly under-reported, especially when one realizes that most states allowing gay or lesbian persons to adopt only allow single persons to do so. Parental sexual orientation is not systematically collected in the adoption process. As a result, although the actual number of new adoptions of children by gay or lesbian adoptive parents is unknown, best estimates place it at more than several hundred each year from international or domestic, private or public adoption sources.

Many who oppose adoptions by gay or lesbian persons argue that such adoptions are ill-advised at best and destructive at worst. They hold that adoption by gay and lesbian persons holds substantial risks for children. Little research purports to demonstrate these risks, and scholars widely condemn those few as misinterpreting and misrepresenting sociological research. Nonetheless, these studies have been the basis for many debunked myths about gay and lesbian parenting, including, for example, that children of gay parents are at risk for confusion about their sexual identities and more likely to become homosexual, or that their parents are more likely to sexually abuse these children.

Most studies indicate that parental homosexuality does not give rise to gender identity confusion, inappropriate behavior, psychopathology, or homosexual behavior in children. These studies further revealed that children of gay or lesbian parents were virtually indistinguishable from children of heterosexual single or divorced parents. In addition, research consistently notes the lack of a connection between homosexuality and child molestation. Studies point out that the offenders who select underage male victims either always did so or regressed from adult heterosexual relations. Research demonstrates that homosexuality and homosexual pedophilia are not synonymous and are, in fact, almost mutually exclusive. This is because the homosexual male is attracted to fundamentally masculine qualities, which are lacking in the prepu-bescent male.

The empirical literature on such adoptive family forms consistently illustrates that no significant [Page 26]differences exist between homosexual and heterosexual adoptive parents in their parenting success, or lack thereof. In fact, children appear to develop healthy bonds with their gay or lesbian parent(s).

Adoption Laws

Despite the removal of homosexuality from the American Psychological Association's list of mental disorders in 1974, Anita Bryant led a “Save Our Children” campaign in 1977 to repeal a gay rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida. The spin-off effect prompted Florida legislators to subsequently pass a law banning adoptions by gay and lesbian persons. The law is still in effect today and is the most restrictive in the nation, the only law specifically denying consideration of an adult as a potential adoptive parent specifically because of his or her sexual orientation.

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