There are so many horror stories surrounding orphanages...where to begin? I suppose that, especially under stressful conditions, when there is a sudden increase in the number of orphans, an orphanage may be the only option other than certain death of the child. But, and orphanage is by its very nature, a cold, institutional and impersonal system for a child to have to grow up in. Maybe someone can come up with some stats to show that orphanages do an effective job at parenting orphaned children. It would be surprise to me.
So, why wouldn't the default assumption be that a gay couple would at least be better than putting a child into an orphanage? Probably because there are fears that a child would be sexually molested by gay men, in particular....I'm not sure what the average opinion is on lesbians in this situation....or there are so many fundamentalist organizations claiming that gays "recruit" children or young adults into their gay lifestyle. The presumption is that nobody can be born that way, and they choose to be homosexuals...for some crazy reason, and can be deconverted from the gay life if they accept Jesus or some alternative religious claptrap.
Whatever, since I am not a conservative, I like to seek out what the real evidence is regarding such claims, rather than just make up my own truth, and see what I can scrape together to fit the narrative.
A quick search online led me to one of my favourite places to search for information on a subject....the About website...and the "About Adoption/Foster Care" section has this on the subject of gay adoption:
Gay Adoption Basics 6 Gay Adoption Basics to Know
By Carrie Craft, About.com Guide
4. The Fears Around Gay Adoption & Gay Parenting
Many studies have been done on same sex couples in order to see how children in these unions are being raised. The studies are often biased based on who has done the research. Gay and lesbian groups show positive results, while religious or conservative groups show negative. Many of the concerns are centered around understanding sexual orientation and if children will develop problems from having gay parents. But research has not found a single study showing that children of gay or lesbian parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect. Still there are other concerns:
Will Children Raised by Gay Parents Become Gay?
There have been various studies on this subject and various researchers have been asked this very question. But according to the odds of a child becoming homosexual is about the same as the odds of a child becoming heterosexual - regardless of the sexual orientation of the parents.
SOURCE:
Overview of Lesbian and Gay Parenting, Adoption and Foster Care - April 6, 1999 Fact Sheet - ACLU
I figure that this study, by showing there is no difference in the odds of a child turning out gay whether they have gay or heterosexual adoptive parents, not only puts to rest any fear that gay adoptive parents will turn children gay, it also adds more evidence to the already overwhelming case that sexual orientation is grounded in very physical factors involved in brain development, and not something that people choose to do, like learning how to drive a car.
Well, I'm convinced! It appears to me, from the evidence, that not only does the thread question have no merit, but it's even possible from the preliminary evidence that gay adoptive parents may be superior to the average straight couples adopting children! Of course, the wonderful results so far may be in part due to the fact that gay adoption is still a very new phenomena....like gay marriage....and the most exemplary, and most highly motivated gay couples may be at the front of the line, seeking to adopt children right now.
The real test for how well they do as parents, may come in time after the novelty wears off. But it's still a no-brainer that they will continue to be far superior to putting children into orphanages!
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