The Ongoing Struggle for a FamilyThe most important thing in a family is that all the people in it love each other. This excerpt is from a childrens book, written by Leslea Newman, Called Heather HasTwo Mommies. This story is intended to show kids that not everyones family is thesame. Many reasons are given to dispute gay and lesbian parenting but all founded onsome of the archaic beliefs that Hitler used to kill homosexuals during W.
W. II, fear andprejudice! Although having children and being parents seems like a basic human right orchoice, many people believe that the government should have the authority todiscriminate who can are cannot have children, regardless of their parenting skills. Some say that it is unnatural for gay and lesbians to have children because theyhave to go to such extremes to have them (Oppos . . 199). It is kind of ironic because ithas become mainstream for heterosexual couples that are determined infertile to useartificial insemination, adoption, and even invitro-fertilization, and when one of theseprocedures is successful the couple is said to have had a miracle, while the gay or lesbiancouple is said to be fanatical.
Lesbian couples may use sperm banks, or they may becomecoparents with a gay couple that also wishes to have children. In these cases the child has4 loving and nurturing parents instead of the standard 2. Noom 2Another opposing view is that all gays and lesbians are sexually promiscuous,therefore have HIV/AIDS, and their relationships are not stable enough to have children(Oppos. .
199). Lesbians and gays love and form deep and lasting commitments just likeheterosexuals. To claim otherwise is to declare that lesbians and gays are somehow nothuman and ignore the reality of their lives, (New Civil. . 125) Laws and social viewsseem be conflicted on what they want because they say gay/lesbian relationships are notstable, but than deny them the right to marry, therefore through laws and legislation theare not promoting the behavior that they seem to require.
HIV/AIDS is a horrible diseaseand truthfully is a major concern in the gay community, but it is because of thestereotypes, lack of education, and knowledge about the disease itself that this diseasewas able to attack many gay males. Although HIV/AIDS is a concern for people ingeneral the number of lesbian women with it is almost non-existent. Does this mean thatheterosexual couples that have HIV/AIDS are not having children? No, countless articlescan be found about drug using prostitutes that give birth to a baby with HIV and stillretains custody. While in 1997, a women named Sharon Bottoms loses her child inVirginia to her mother for being gay, active lesbianism practiced in the home may pose aburden upon the child by reason of Social Condemnation attached to such anarrangement the state Supreme Court stated (issues. .
36). All hope is not lost though, inJune of 1997 an Ohio appeals court upheld that, sexual orientation alone, has norelevance to a decision concerning the allocation of parental rights and responsibilities,(Issues. . 37)Many people believe that gays and lesbians shouldnt have kids because the childwill be molested and/or be mal adjusted as a youth and adult.
Lesbians and gays areinherently sick and prey on children. Giving them custody of children opens thosechildren up to sexual abuse. They cannot raise healthy children, (Oppos. . 199).
Noom 3The statistics certainly do not support these statements, Adults who sexually molestchildren are a diverse group. No one race, religion level of intelligence, level ofeducation, occupation, or income sets perpetrators apart from the rest of the population,(New Civil. . 78).
One thing is clear, most often a child molester is a heterosexual malewho is acquainted with the victim (New Civil. . 78). Others believe that a child of ahomosexual is most likely going to be a homosexual, and even if they are not they willhave a hard time growing up due to the teasing and stereotypes of their classmates andcommunity.
Studies have proved these beliefs false, Although studies have assessedover 300 offspring of gay or lesbian parents in 12 different samples, no evidence has beenfound for significant disturbances of any kind in the development of sexual identity. they go on to say that, the same held true for moral development, intelligence, and peerrelationships, (New Civil. . 132). Like all children, kids from gay and lesbian familyshave
