When Children Harsh on Gay Adoption Bans

by Michael A. Jones

 

In November 2008, while a certain future President was celebrating a victory before millions on a warm Chicago night, many other folks were reeling at the fact that four anti-gay ballot measures passed. The most famous reindeer of all of these initiatives, of course, was Proposition 8 in California. But the lesser known initiatives?

There was Amendment 2 in Florida, which made same-sex marriage even more illegal than it already was in the Sunshine State (and it was already pretty darn illegal). There was Proposition 102 in Arizona, which also banned same-sex marriage. And there was Act 1 in Arkansas, the odd ball of the group. See, Act 1 didn't deal with gay marriage per se. Nay, Arkansas had long since amended their state constitution to ban that, during the heydays of Huckabee.

Instead, Act 1 dealt with whether single people -- both straight folks, as well as all potential gay and lesbian parents, since Arkansas doesn't recognize same-sex marriage -- had the right to adopt children. And at the end of the day, almost 57 percent of the state said they didn't. Sure, it's one thing for a majority to vote away the rights of a minority. But in this case, a majority voted away the best interests of children, too.

That's why the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the state of Arkansas, hoping that an Arkansas Court will rule that the state's adoption ban on single parents and queer parents is as unconstitutional and illegal as it gets. The lawsuit has been brewing for more than a year now, but this week, three new voices were added to the suit with a particularly vested interest in the case. They are three teenagers, all caught up in the state's foster care system. And they're joining the case for one simple reason.

Arkansas law, as passed by voters in 2008, harms their ability to find a family.

The three teenagers -- ages 15, 16, and 17 respectively, and all known just by initials in court documents to protect their privacy -- join more than a dozen other plaintiffs in the case, all saying that Arkansas' ban on single parent adoption has got to go.

A year ago, when the lawsuit was filed, Arkansas ACLU attorney Rita Sklar put it none too bluntly when she said that this law throws children under the proverbial Greyhound bus.

“This law hurts families and children in many ways – it takes away parents’ right to decide for themselves who will adopt their children if they die, it denies the many children in Arkansas state care a chance at the largest possible pool of potential foster and adoptive homes, and denies couples who are living together but unmarried the chance to provide loving homes to children who desperately need them," Sklar said, drawing on the Gods and Goddesses of common sense to state her point. If only Arkansas voters would have been open to such a message in November 2008 ...

For their part in the case, Arkansas state authorities were miffed that a judge allowed three teenagers to join the case. Perhaps from their standpoint, it would be best not to have the authentic voices of children caught in the foster care system, telling the world about how banning single-parent adoption leaves them floundering in the state's care.

The trial starts May 10 in Pulaski County's Second Division Circuit Court. It's expected to last two weeks. Talk about a fortnight that could change the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of kids currently awaiting adoption and foster care in Arkansas.

Oh, and if the ACLU is hurting for evidence (something tells us they're not, but nonetheless), they can point toward a Spanish study released this week that says that gay and lesbian parents are the coolest thing since Pogo Balls and Debbie Gibson. (Hey, I'm feeling a little nostalgic this Friday afternoon.) These Spanish researchers -- as well as most every sociological and child welfare organization on this side of the pond -- concluded that young children and teenagers in LGBT parent households benefited enormously from the loving attention they got from two moms or two dads.

Now, why not give Arkansas children the same chance to experience these kinds of warm and fuzzy feelings?