Adoption by Homosexual Couples

Same sex adoption as it is most commonly referred to or LGBT adoption simply means the adoption of a child by a lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans-gendered couple. In the past, gay couples have had to be secretive in adopting a child due to certain prejudices that existed against homosexuality. For example, one partner would adopt the child as a single parent and the other would pretend to be a roommate or friend. Gay adoption is nothing new. Gays and lesbians have been adopting for a long time, but only recently have gay adoptions been done openly.

All research have come to the conclusions :

1. The children of LGBT parents grow up as successfully as heterosexual parents. In fact, not a single study has found that children of gay or lesbian couples to be disadvantaged because of their parent’s sexual orientation.

2. There is no evidence to suggest that gay or lesbian couples are unfit to be parents.

3. Home environments with LGBT couples are as likely to successfully support a child’s development as those with heterosexual parents.

4. Good parenting is not influenced by sexual orientation. Rather, it is influenced most profoundly by a parent’s ability to create a loving and nurturing home – an ability that does not depend on whether a parent is gay or straight.

5. There is no evidence to suggest that the child of a gay or lesbian couple is less intelligent, suffers more from problems, is less popular or has a lower self-esteem than a child of a heterosexual couple.

6. The children of LGBT parents grow up just as happy, healthy and well-adjusted as the children of heterosexual parents.

Society is changing, and the traditional idea of the nuclear family with married mother and father is no longer the only acceptable alternative. The reason that many countries are beginning to award legal rights to gay couples is because the stability of such relationships is now recognized. There is no reason, therefore, why such couples cannot provide a stable and loving upbringing for children. Nature has shown in many species that, when one or both parents die, an uncle or aunt frequently takes on the child-rearing role.

Some babies are born with a predisposition to homosexuality (both human and in other races), and their upbringing will not be affect their sexuality. Attempting to suppress this genetic predisposition has resulted in great misery for many people. Rather, we should accept this and look to embrace all gay people fully which must include celebrating gay role models, especially as responsible parents.

In many cases, children are currently being responsibly reared by gay couples, where one of the partners is a biological parent. Allowing adoption by the other merely confers legal rights on an already successful, if informal, family model.