What Makes a Family?  The Ban of Gay and Lesbian Adoptions, Katie Troller

The process of adoption has given parents who dream of having children but who, for some reason, can’t or don’t the chance to create a family of their own.  However, these laws, most of which are over twenty years old, have become out dated.  There are many critical issues regarding adoption that are not defined by current legislation; specifically, these laws do not define the concept of a “family”, leaving state legislatures to determine the appropriateness of nontraditional families, specifically families composed of homosexual parents.  The state of Florida is currently embroiled in legal battles due to legislation from 1977 that prohibits any homosexual from adopting children.  Florida contends that the law against gay and lesbian adoptions in the state “reflects the state’s moral disapproval of homosexuality, and it serves in the best interest of Florida’s children” (Nieves).  However, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) contests that these laws are discriminatory and illegal.

Florida allows homosexuals to be foster parents, however they cannot adopt.  Since 1990 three separate law suits against the state of Florida have tried to reverse the legislation of 1977.  In 1999 the ACLU, along with six potential adoptive parents (two gay couples who want to adopt their foster children and one gay couple who has been asked to adopt their niece and nephew should the children’s heterosexual parents die), filed a federal law suit challenging the adoption ban.  Now, for the first time ever, a federal appeals court is weighing the constitutionality of banning gay adoption.  In the heart of the case lies the question of if the state government has the right to deny people a family based strictly upon sexual orientation.

Florida defends its gay adoption ban by saying that the unequal treatment is justified because it is the state's way to express disapproval of the gay lifestyle. As a backup defense, the state also says that it would be better for kids to be raised by a married mother and father than two people of the same sex whose promise to one another is not recognized under law.  Additionally, Florida’s case was dependant upon the Supreme Court’s decision in 1986's Bowers v. Hardwick, where some forms of sexual intimacy, specifically gay sodomy, were made a crime.  However, in the Supreme Court struck down this decision in July of 2003 saying that states “can't have laws that ‘demean’ the lives of gay people and must respect gay relationships” (Cates).  The case against Florida’s adoption ban, the only one in existence, was argued in March, 2003.  Although a decision has not yet been made, it is expected in the next few months.

One of the biggest arguments against homosexual adoptions is the allegation that homosexuals, because they live a nontraditional lifestyle, cannot be good parents.  However, this has been disproved with such consistency in the areas of psychological, sociological, anthropological, psychiatric, and medical research that it is a rarity in all of the above fields (Sanders).  In fact, the parenting skills of homosexual parents has been found to be equal to those of heterosexual parents, in some cases even better, but gay parents were never shown to be any worse than straight parents.  In fact, the less traditional lifestyles of fay fathers were found to be an advantage because they demonstrated greater nurturing than straight fathers, had more “investment in the parental role, and were more positive about this than heterosexual fathers” (Sanders).  Additionally, homosexual parents tended to be more nurturing, more communicative, and more strict in setting boundaries for their children.  Homosexuals have been deemed as normal as heterosexuals in terms of psychological as well as emotional maturity (Sanders). The American Psychiatric Association (APA) declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1973, and attempts to “convert” people from their sexual preference is illegal and could be considered to be malpractice on the grounds that it is unethical.  And what about the allegations that gay adoptive fathers are more likely to molest their children?  To make this accusation one must first believe that gay men are more likely to be pedophiles; however, this is not the case, for there are more proportionally fewer gay pedophiles than straight.