I heard this morning that a Catholic adoption charity lost it's case in the UK to deny gay/lesbian couples the right to adopt. There was a related Have Your Say on the topic and I couldn't resist and went and read the comments (I gotta stop doing that, some of those people....*shakes head in disgust*) Anyway, I was actually surprised that so far, most seemed to support the ruling and agreed that religion should not be above the law, which in this case would be that no one has the right to discriminate against others based on their sexuality.
Doesn't mean that there weren't people opposed, but I found those people tended to make sweeping generalisations about gays/lesbians, which happens to be a debating pet peeve of mine. I hate generalised statements because they often paint people wrongly who don't deserve it. Comments like this would apply:
Generalised and a slap in the face to any gay couple wanting to adopt. I'm sorry where's the evidence that a same sex couple would do anything other than what's best for the child in question? Any evidence? No? Plenty of evidence that heterosexual couples often don't do what's best in the interest of the child, things like child abuse are most often commited by parents or close relatives and yes, those parents are often hetero. I saw another comment saying that the happiness of the child must come first and the desires of homosexuals to have children shouldn't count. Huh? Yet more generalisations that homosexuals are incapable of providing a child with a happy, healthy upbringing without a shred of evidence to support it. I saw another comment about allowing gays/lesbians to adopt would be akin to indoctrinating children to think homosexuality is ok, to the erosion of moral values in this country, or some tripe like that. I didn't pay much attention to that one.
This idea of some that gay/lesbian parents are incapable of providing a well-round, happy upbringing for a child who desperately needs a loving home......I can't fathom it. When you look at it really, homosexual couples can't be any worse than heterosexual couples at raising children and from what I've seen of it, are often much better parents than many heterosexual couples. There's loads of heteros out there who are terrible parents, can't or don't want to provide for the child, are too self-interested, or mistreat their children.
The laws made to govern us are secular for a reason, to prevent the forcing of religious views on others' whose views differ from their own. Forcing your religious views on others is just plain and simple intolerance and disrespect for that other person. Something that ties into this would be Catholic hospitals in the US, which I had a little rant about a few days ago, but that's beside the point here.
Gay and lesbian couples are no worse at parenting than any heterosexual couple out there and they should be afforded all the same rights to adopt that are given to heteros. it's called
tolerance and
equality. I just can't get along with anyone who says that homosexuals are abnormal and would be bad parents based on that alone.
Edit> I've just seen a comment that takes the cake, a claim that any same sex couple wanting to adopt are selfish. OMG, wth?! I swear my jaw just dropped. Unbelievable, how in god's name does wanting to provide a child with a loving home make them selfish. Dear Jebus, sometimes I despair of some sections of humanity. *shakes head*
