Gay Couples Should Be Allowed To Adopt Children, Doctors Group Says
By Terri Somers, Staff Writer
Originally published in the Sun-Sentinel, February 4, 2002
Children of loving gay parents are as well adjusted as any and they deserve the same adoption rights as the children of heterosexual couples, the American Academy of Pediatrics said in a policy statement released today.
In setting its first policy on gay parenting and adoption, AAP reviewed numerous studies and found that children of gay parents have no greater risk of social, academic or psychological problems, said Dr. Daniel Armstrong, director of the University of Miami's Mailmen Center for Child Development. The policy recommends getting rid of the obstacles preventing gays and lesbians from adopting because it denies children in need the opportunity to grow up in the security of a loving home, said Armstrong, one of the policy's authors.
"All the literature suggests that as long as a parent is providing a loving, caring environment, the parent's sexual orientation doesn't make a difference in the development of the child."
The policy carries a lot of weight because it is the product of a leading national peer group of pediatricians but it is not ground-breaking, according to gay rights activists. It is one more strong voice joining a chorus of voices that have already made the same statements, including the Child Welfare League of American and the North American Council on Adoptable Children, said Eric Ferrero, of the American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.
However, the AAP policy flies in the face of Florida law, one of the toughest in the nation at preventing homosexuals, both single and couples, from adopting.
Three gay couples who are either foster parents or guardians challenged Florida's adoption law last year because they sought full parental rights, as well as security and stability for their children. But that case was thrown out of federal court before it could get to trial.
State lawyers argued that it is in the best interest of the children to be raised by mother and father, and that the adoption ban protects morality.
The gay couples now are appealing their case to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.
AAP realized this was a contentious issue, politically and religiously, for people on both sides, Armstrong said. The academy did not tackle this issue for political purposes, but to provide pediatricians around the country with sound guidance on how to treat their patients, he said.
"There are many, many, many children in this country who have the need for a loving, caring environment, a place where their basic needs can be met, where they can learn and grow. Some of these children are orphaned. Many are in need of homes because of a problem in their traditional heterosexual relationship: maybe the father is absent, or maybe there is violence in the home, or maybe there is a single mother who abuses drugs or is exposed to drugs. And there are a significant number of children with medical problems, like HIV.
"If someone steps up to the plate to take care of such a child and does a good job, the sexual orientation of the parent really has no bearing on the outcome to that child," Armstrong said.
That is the same argument made last year by Steve Lofton, Doug Houton and Wayne Smith, three of the gay men who challenged Florida's law so that they could legally adopt the children they are raising.
"My hope is the Florida Legislature will take a look at this and stop spending money on a battle that ought not to be fought," Smith, of Key West, said after hearing of the AAP policy statement.
The federal judge in Miami who threw out the lawsuit filed by Smith and the others noted that there are more than 3,500 children in Florida waiting to be adopted, Smith said.
"I know one gay couple who would take two of them right now," Smith said, referring to his two foster children who he and his partner would like to adopt. "When the state had an irrational, scientifically unsupportable law that prevents children from being adopted by perfectly loving, capable parents, the state is then guilty of abusing, abandoning and neglecting those children."
