Every couple can adopt … even if they’re gay?

EVERY COUPLE CAN ADOPT … EVEN IF THEY’RE GAY? M Y P O V VOLUME 01 • ISSUE NO. 10

WE NEED TO TALK Have you ever wondered if homeless, raped, unwanted, and abandoned children will EVER have a family? In Colombia, according to ICBF data delivered in 2018, about 127.000 boys and girls don’t have a home and just around 26.389 of those minors are lucky enough to end up in one home.[1] It’s started getting to me every time we see more and more children who have fewer chances of being adopted for each year they grow.

Adoption is by far the hardest procedure you can do even if you have a straight couple.

Now imagine gay couples who want to adopt one. I’m in favor of homoparental adoption and I wonder what if we open up the possibility that gay couples can adopt as much as a straight couple can? If we allow this, we can reduce the number of children who are left without a lovely family. I need to figure out a solution, first of all why some governments in several countries don’t permit gay people to adopt, secondly, why religious and far-right political groups pretend to have power in government decision, and third why gay couples can be perfect candidates for providing love and protection to a child.

[1] Benedetti, Daniela (2019). Los hijos de nadie: jóvenes no adoptados en Colombia. Recovered from https://www.vice.com/es/article/3kxpnj/los-hijos-denadie-jovenes-no-adoptados-en-colombia

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By Diego Zúñiga

COLOMBIA

SOME GOVERNMENTS DON’T PERMIT GAY PEOPLE TO ADOPT, BUT "THANKS GOD" OUR COUNTRY DOES! In Colombia , government permits gay couples to adopt children since November 3rd, 2015. From this year, Colombia became an equal country in accepting adoption rights as Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.[2] ICBF supported adoption in gay couples saying that, citing scientific studies, minors are not affected by growing up in same-parent households and argued that decree will have decreased in the next decades the number of homeless children in our country.[3] But that decision had tons of detractors such as the Catholic church and far-right political groups. These detractors have not allowed other countries don’t have the same luck as much as our country did. Unfortunately, even if the law is approved in all the countries of the world, human rights seem to be out of tune regarding moral and religious thinking that doesn’t accept equal adoption. Why shouldn’t detractors be against this decision?

[2] Semana (Article 2015). El hombre que decidirá sobre la adopción gay. Recovered from https://www.semana.com/nacion/articulo/jose-roberto-herrera-el-hombre-que-decidira-sobre-la-adopcion-gay/417129-3/ [3] Estrada Vélez, Sergio (Enterview 2015). Sergio Estrada Vélez, el abogado detrás del fallo sobre adopción gay. Recovered from https://www.ambitojuridico.com/noticias/en-ejercicio/constitucional-y-derechos-humanos/sergio-estrada-velez-el-abogado-

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[4] Ballard, Jamie (2019). What Americans think about same-sex couples and adoption.

Recovered from https://today.yougov.com/topics/education/a rticles-reports/2019/11/21/LGBTQ-adoptionTrump-poll

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GAY/LESBIAN AMERICANS (72%), AND BISEXUAL (75%) AMERICANS ARE ESPECIALLY LIKELY TO SAY THEY FIND THIS IDEA UNACCEPTABLE. DEMOCRATS (69%) ALSO TEND TO FIND THIS UNACCEPTABLE - IN CONTRAST WITH REPUBLICANS, 59 PERCENT OF WHOM BELIEVE THIS PRACTICE IS ACCEPTABLE. TO SUM UP, RELIGIOUS AND FAR-RIGHT POLITICAL GROUPS TEND TO SEE ACCEPTABLE REJECT GAY COUPLES TO ADOPT A CHILD IN ADOPTION AGENCIES.[4]

Although homosexual practices were normalized in ancient Greece and Rome, they never became practices allowed in the early writings of human rights in the Roman Empire.

Dante and Virgil , 1850. WilliamAdolphe Bouguereau

WHY HUMAN RIGHTS HAVE BEEN STAINED WITH RELIGION?

Don’t get me wrong but religion always was a pain in the neck for human rights and cultural progressive movements in plenty of fields: abortion, death penalty, euthanasia, right women to vote, eradicate racism, classism, etc. And homoparental homes aren’t an exception. By religion not only is being gay a sin, but also that condition is unacceptable and almost illegal. The Bible said “…If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense." Leviticus 20:13.[5] After that, the traditional family model and traditional love have prevailed for about 500 years with intermittent acceptance periods so far. It’s not a lie to anyone that political decisions in the Modern Era and in Western and Eastern culture have been related to religion since the Roman Empire named Catholicism as the official religion of the Empire. Since then, the origin of rights, decrees, and laws have had a moral and religious perspective regarding life decisions and people's freedoms. For this reason, religion and many far-right groups have always interfered with human rights, which should only be raised from the political, social, cultural, economic, and scientific facts. It’s hard to say but, religion should mind its own business and shouldn’t interfere in political decisions.

[5] Bible (PDF version). Leviticus Salm. Recovered from https://www.catholichawaii.org/media/224239/bible_verses_about_ homosexuality.pdf

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WORLDWIDE

WHY GAY COUPLES CAN BE PERFECT CANDIDATES FOR PROVIDING LOVE AND PROTECTION TO A CHILD?

Probably I’m beating around the bushes, but to sum up religion and human rights are not compatible nowadays when the reality seems to be cruel regarding poverty, violence, and the future of our children without a home in this case. Social and scientific studies have shown that sexuality is not a model that is passed on to another human being in its early years. What children do imitate adults is humane treatment, the behavioral models associated with the way we relate to other people. We spread neither heterosexuality nor homosexuality to children, though. As humans we generally teach “good” or “bad” behaviors, that’s it! And homosexuals are human beings, their sexual preferences aren’t contagious, they’re a personal decision that should not affect the right to want to give love to a child who may never have a home by depriving him of them.

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IS THERE REALLY A DIFFERENCE? SPOILER ALERT: NO! There are many studies looking at the child development impact of children raised in two-mother or two-parent households. An investigation from The New England Journal of Medicine reports that:

“THERE ARE NO DIFFERENCES IN MENTAL HEALTH OR COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT OF 25YEAR-OLDS WHO GREW UP IN HOMOPARENTAL FAMILIES COMPARED TO A GROUP OF THE SAME AGE WHO GREW UP IN HOUSEHOLDS OF FAMILIES OF HETEROSEXUAL COUPLES.” [6] This study also reveals that people in the first group showed fewer difficulties overall than those in the second group and concluded that it is more important for parents to provide trust and support when raising their children than their sexual orientation.

[6] The New England Journal of Medicine (2019). National longitudinal lesbian family study – Mental health of adult offspring.

Recovered from https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc1804810? query=featured_secondary

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Series like Modern Family have normalized homoparental families nowadays. They even dare to satirize the classic family models.

[7] Gallup (2014). Most Amricans say same-sex couples entitled to adopt. Recovered from https://news.gallup.com/poll/170801/americans -say-sex-couples-entitled-adopt.aspx

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AMERICANS HAVE CHANGED THE PERCEPTION ABOUT EQUAL MARRIAGE AND THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN IN HOMOPARENTAL HOMES IN THE LAST 3 DECADES.[7]

THANK YOU!

EVERY LITTLE CHANGE IS A BIG CHANCE

To sum up, as a society me need to look on the bright side about homoparental homes and we can erase the moral tint that human rights have historically had usually about gay people. What bothers me is our not giving support currently for new models of families. We need to embrace new models to raise our children. And mostly we need to decrease the number of children who are left homeless because a number of people believe that gay couples don’t deserve to build a family. And definitely, they do! I hope we have changed our minds completely in the next decades about this topic.

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