Anti-gay adoption frenzy spreads to Tennessee
by Matt | February 4th, 2008 |
On Jan. 26, I wrote about the anti-gay adoption ballot initiative taking place in Arkansas and how the gay Family Equality Council was gearing up to fight the archaic and destructive move that would limit adoption and foster parenting to only those couples who are married and heterosexual.
It seems as though the same anti-queer frenzy on gay adoption has spread to neighboring Tennessee. On Jan. 30, a Tennessee State House member and State Senate member introduced two companion bills that, if passed, would prohibit “any individual who is cohabitating in a sexual relationship outside of a marriage that is valid under the constitution and laws of this state from adopting a minor.”
In the most basic language, the bill would effectively prohibit gay couples and unmarried straight couples from adopting. At face value, the bill — and the similar Arkansas ballot initiative — seem pretty straight-forward (no pun intended): No unmarried couples, applied equally to all groups. What makes this bill’s enforcement so biased and inherently unequal, however, is that where unmarried straight couples will have the option of getting married and then later adopting, gay couples won’t have the same benefit and privilege.
The Family Equality Council blasted the Arkansas initiative because of the insane pressures it would put on the adoption and foster parenting system. In a press release they said that the number of couples even eligible to adopt or foster parent would drop by 50%, as married, heterosexual couples make up only about one half of the state’s households. In Arkansas, the ballot initiative, if successful, would not only apply to state-run adoption and foster parenting systems, but privately-run systems, as well.
Both the Tennessee and Arkansas anti-gay adoption frenzies accomplish one thing: The end to LGBT families. No one can argue that this result wouldn’t be an outcome of these two anti-gay initiatives. The Tennessee bills and the Arkansas ballot initiative really are no different than what guides the anti-gay legislation stripping domestic partner benefits from university employees, which recently crept out of the Kentucky legislature (Brian updated us — Kentucky’s governor isn’t willing to sign the bill). The general purpose of all this anti-gay legislation is clear: Stop LGBT families from forming and take away every avenue used for health care and family life by already-existing LGBT families, thereby destroying the ones who didn’t have a chance to stop from forming.
Everyone knew these were the goals of the anti-gay religious right when they set out upon enacting their “pro-family” constitutionalizing of second-class citizenship amendments. Now, we’re seeing the effects spread from state-to-state.
Pro-family? Yeah, “pro-family” my ass. There is nothing “pro-family” about anything the religious right is doing. I’m starting to actually wonder if they enjoy tearing a part families. I guess so long as they get to destroy anything that’s gay, then they’ll be happy.
3 Responses to “Anti-gay adoption frenzy spreads to Tennessee”
Thank you for referencing our story on this topic!
By Bill Larson on Feb 4, 2008
Matt you should read this editorial posted by a columnist at the tacoma news tribune about how the conservative christian right has always had an abyssmal record on human rights. I have the link here:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/columnists/story/273572.html
History will not be kind to these conservative folks and then they will wonder why we can never trust them. I certainly never will considering the fact that the conservatives have done everything in their power to undermine the civil rights act of 1964 and undermined the brown v. board of education decision. Why any minority in their right minds support people who just as soon send them to the gas chambers as to look at them is beyond me.
By adam kautz on Feb 4, 2008