Gay Adoption: A Bit

From 365Gay.com

A bill to ban gays, bisexuals, and transgendereds from adopting, that was proposed this week by 10 far-right Republicans, is dead in the water GOP and Democratic party leaders said Saturday.

The bill's chief sponsor, Ashville Republican Ron Hood, said if the measure does not make it to the floor this session he will re-introduce it again and again until it does.

"Studies have shown that the optimal setting to raise children in is a traditional setting with a mom and a dad," Hood said.

I'll be very kind and say that this is misleading. The implication is that the scientific evidence points to a "traditional" setting as the best, when in fact, it doesn't. One ploy the anti-gay hate groups have used is to compare studies of single-parent households and dual-parent households and then claim that the "evidence" shows that children need a mother and a father. No. It just shows that kids do better, in general, with two parents. Duh. (There are actually indications that lesbian couples make better parents than straight couples.) This is what happens when you let far-right wingnuts encounter science: there's a certain amount of integrity involved in the practice of science; there apparently is not in the practive of wingnuttery.

Hood claims that children raised in gay households are at "increased risk" of physical and emotional problems.

That's simply not true. In fact, the evidence shows that children raised in gay households are exactly equivalent in most areas to children raised in straight households, and likely to be better at interpersonal relationships because they are more tolerant and easygoing. The only "increased risk" of physical and emotional problems is from attacks by homophobic bullies -- such as Ron Hood.

What's most interesting about this is that the Republican leadership in the Ohio senate is quashing the bill. Another indicator, perhaps, of what I've been saying for a while: the Christianists are hysterical because they know their time is past.