Gay Adoption and America

Gay adoption has recently grown in popularity in the US. According to the Evan B. Donaldson Institute, 60 percent of US Agencies accept applications from homosexuals. The Donaldson Institute also reported that 40 percent have already made placements with homosexuals. This study shows a great amount of support for gay adoptions in the United States but it may not be completely accurate.

Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council has argued the Donaldson study is nothing more that gay propaganda and a "fraud." Perkins argues the study is not acceptable because only out of all US Agencies contacted, only 41 percent responded to the study, leaving the Donaldson Institute with a very small sample size.

Either way, gay adoption raises many questions from people who support traditional American families. A problem that arises with gay adoption is that the children adopted have a much better chance of becoming gay as they are older. As Perkins puts it, "children raised in homosexual households are more likely to experiment with homosexuality, to be sexually promiscuous and to have behavioral and many other developmental problems." These allegations are very serious and true. The American public should think about these problems before they begin to support gay adoption.

Support for gay adoption has risen greatly in the past 10 years. According to Time/CNN and ABC News polls from 94 to 02, a slight plurality now exists for the supporters of gay adoption. In a Time/CNN Poll from 6/16/94, 28 percent of Americans supported gay adoption and 65 disagreed. On 10/15/98 another Time/CNN poll found 35 percent of Americans agreeing with gay adoption at 35 percent and 57 percent in disagreement. On March 31, 2002, the gay adoption supporters showed a 47 percent support and those in disagreement were 42 percent. This shift has been brought upon by younger adults and those who are more educated, according to ABC News. Also the majority of supporters exist in the East and Midwest, the South being the most unsupportive.

It is thought that most Americans support gay adoption because the homosexuals want to be parents. Perkins says, "Rather than worrying about a homosexual adult's desire to be a parent, we should be concerning ourselves with what is in the best interest of the child." The best interest of the child may not be putting them in a home where they will learn a homosexual lifestyle. There are many studies that suggest putting a child with homosexual parents does not change the child's sexual orientation but Robert Lerner, a social-science researcher and co-author of the book No Basis: What the Studies Don't Tell Us About Same Sex Parenting, has shown many flaws in these studies. He says about the studies:

1. Completely misconstrue and thus blatantly misuse the standard logic of statistical hypothesis testing (e.g., they attempt to affirm the null hypothesis, which is wrong; one can only fail to reject the null hypothesis)
2. Fail to use proper or even any control groups (e.g. Charlotte Patterson's Bay Area study)
3. Use wildly unrepresentative non-random samples
4. Use far too few cases to draw any valid conclusions
5. Fail to control for essential variables when presenting their findings
6. There is only one study that has any kind of follow-up. This particular study misanalyses its own data, which in fact show that the daughters of lesbian couples are more likely to engage in lesbian sexual experimentation as adults than are the daughters of heterosexual couples. This effect is probably understated since the authors lump together heterosexuals who are married with those who are cohabiting
7.The above study is the only one which included adult data; findings based on young children are inadequate for talking about the development of adult behavior and identity
- None of the studies in question is a study of gay adoption; the children studied are either the natural children of one partner or result from artificial insemination. This limits the generalizability of the studies, even assuming they were valid otherwise

These reasons completely change the idea that gay adoption is harmless. More studies, with correct data, may be needed before the United States makes this adoption a mainstream thing. Lerner, although disagrees with studies, does not think laws banning gay adoption are the answer. He believes there is not enough research to do anything yet, so much more studies are needed.

Despite all the studies and polls conducted, a two-parent, heterosexual couple is still the norm for adoption in America. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 78 percent of all adopted children are adopted into a two-parent married couple. The Rocky Mountain News ran a story on July 8, 2003 that as many as 14 million children were raised by at least one homosexual parent. They said many lesbians had children from past marriages and others are from artificial insemination, adoption, or surrogate mothers pregnanted by gay men's sperm. These findings were blown up and written by supporters of homosexuals. The U.S. Census Bureau published that 1.8 percent of all adopted children were adopted by single males, and another 1.8 percent were adopted by single females. These two statistics show that Americans cannot believe everything they hear in the news, some news are skewed for the gay community. The real facts tell a different story showing gay adoption may not be the best idea for our youth, just yet.