february 5.1 9 9 9 ? J u t o u t j j
news
ome government officials are seeking
to preclude gay men and lesbians
from adopting or becoming foster par
ents; Texas and Arkansas are two of
the current battlegrounds.
In the Lone Star state, bills have been intro
duced in the Legislature that would deny these
rights to lesbians and gay men.
In Arkansas, a recently created Child Wel
fare Review Board is pushing to make Arkansas
the second state to ban gay men and lesbians
from being foster parents. (The ban must pass
more hurdles before it takes effect.)
‘‘These are big pieces of legislation. They will
be important to defeat and very difficult to
defeat, but we’re already holding meetings in
every city in Texas,” says Dianne Hardy-Garcia,
the executive director of the Lesbian and Gay
Rights Lobby of Texas. “I want people to under
stand the seriousness of the adoption and foster
care legislation. It’s the first step to removing us
from access to children.”
Republican state Reps. Warren Chisum and
Robert Talton filed the bills to ban the place
ment of children into gay or lesbian households.
According to the Jan. 2 issue of the Fort
Worth Star-Telegram, Chisum said such house
holds provide an improper atmosphere for rais
ing children.
“It is not conducive to Judeo-Christian
beliefs and it can be destructive for the chil
dren,” he said, adding that heterosexual couples
offer the most solid home and best lifestyle.
Critics, however, balked at that assertion.
“People who support proposals like this say
they are pro-family, but what more anti-family
thing can you do than to say to children in fos
ter care that we are going to deny you the oppor
tunity to be raised by loving parents who could
give you a good home and leave you in institu
tional care instead?” asked Matt Coles, director
of the lesbian and gay rights project at the
American Civil Liberties Union.
S
“This Iboard] is appointed by the Southern
Baptist governor,” Sklar says. “It just seems to be
created to do this sort of thing.”
This past fall, Sklar provided the board with
dozens of documents that support the ACLU’s
position in opposition to the ban. Those materi
als included documents from the American Psy
chological Association and reports from experts
whose findings are in opposition to the sources
Woodruff cited.
Many organizations— including the APA,
the Child Welfare League and the North Amer
ican Council on Adoptable Children—oppose
the use of sexual orientation as a criterion in fos
ter care and adoption placement.
The ban still has two hurdles to clear before
becoming a regulation, but Sklar says she
“couldn’t imagine it getting much opposition”
in Arkansas.
T he P arent F lap
Some state authorities decide life with gay folks
is not in children's best interest by Gip Plaster
"People who support
proposals like this say
they are pro-family,
but what more anti
family thing can you do
than to say to children
in foster care that we
are going to ...leave
you in institutional
care instead?"
the New Hampshire Legis
I bians n lature the from late passed both 1980s,
a law banning gay men and les
adopting and serving as foster
— Matt Coles, director o f
the lesbian and gay rights
project o f the American
Civil Liberties Union
“We feel like the board overlooked the evi
dence and voted in an unfair way against gays
and lesbians as foster parents,” says Bryan Good
man, a spokesperson for the Interfaith Coalition
for Equality, a group of gay and straight people
who support equal rights and oppose the ban.
“We would have liked to have been heard.”
But Robin Woodruff, the board member who
introduced the resolution last June, says there
had been plenty of time for public comment.
She believes there are good reasons why gay
men and lesbians don’t make good foster par
ents. She emphasizes the importance of “a mom
role model and a dad role model,” and notes
that sodomy is illegal in Arkansas.
Woodruff also says there is no evidence of
n Arkansas, meanwhile, the Child Welfare
Review Board voted 6-1, with one abstention, “positive long-term effects of homosexual par
to bar gay people from becoming foster parents. enting.” In addition, she maintains gay people
Some ban opponents expressed concern that have more sexual partners than heterosexuals
their opinions were not heard before the jan. 6 and are more susceptible to diseases, including
HIV and AIDS, gonorrhea, anal carcinoma and
vote.
I
“a rare group of intestinal diseases [that] have
been grouped together under the title ‘gay bowel
syndrome.’ ”
The board must now hold additional hear
ings. After another vote, it can then send its
proposal to the Arkansas Legislative Council,
which can hold another hearing if the public
requests it. The process will likely take several
weeks.
If it passes, the prohibition will become an
agency regulation but can be overridden via
statute.
Arkansas state Rep. Jim Lendell, who is con
sidered gay friendly, says if asked he would con
sider introducing a bill to counteract the mea
sure. Even so, Lendell says the bill would likely
flop.
Rita Sklar, executive director of the Ameri
can Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, says her
organization will sue if the regulation gets the
stamp of approval.
parents. This year, the state’s lawmakers will
consider whether to repeal the law.
Florida banned gay men and lesbians from
adopting in 1977. In Oklahoma, people con
victed under the state’s sodomy law cannot
adopt.
Last year, bills that would have prevented
queer people from serving as foster parents,
adopting or both were defeated in Arizona, Cal
ifornia, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Georgia.
Similar measures will likely be introduced this
year in Indiana and Michigan.
The Utah Division of Child and Family Ser
vices has drafted a policy aimed at having the
same effect in that state.
After the Arkansas vote, the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force denounced the board’s
actions and pledged to stop that measure and
similar proposals elsewhere.
“This ban is not about the welfare of chil
dren, it’s about attacking and demonizing gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgcndered people,”
says Kerry Lobel, the executive director of
NGLTF. “We will face similar battles in a num
ber of states this year, and we will do everything
in our power to face down these lies, distortions
and myths with the simple truth."
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