September 6. 2002
news
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P a s to r K athy T a ck ett
T h e C ity C h u r c h , P o r tl a n d
V IR G IN IA
lesbian Episcopal priest in north
ern Virginia will be able to adopt
another foster child from the District
of Colum bia— and Virginia child
placement officials no longer will bar
such adoptions based on the parents’
sexual orientation— under a lawsuit
settlement made public Aug. 14.
Linda Kaufman adopted a 5-year-
old D.C. foster child in 1992, and she
has been trying to adopt a sibling for
him since 1999. A Virginia adoption
agency and D.C. officials determined
that she is well qualified to provide a
home for a second child— but state
officials refused to approve the place
ment because she is a lesbian.
“This is a common-sense settle
m ent th at puts the. focus of adop
tion back where it belongs— on the
kids,” attorney G reg N evins said.
"Today’s settlem ent isn’t only a vic
California Assemblyman D ennis M ountjoy (left, with
tory for Linda’s family— it’s a bea
Arnold Schwarzenegger) opposes landmark legislation
con of hope for some of the 1,016
protecting queer youth in foster care
children in foster care in D.C. who
are waiting to be adopted.”
Continued from Page 19
Kaufman works in Washington, D.C., but
A report published last year by Lambda Legal
lives in Arlington with her partner, Liane
Defense and Education Fund detailed the vast
Rozzell. She said she immediately will begin the
unmet needs of queer youth in California’s fos process of adopting another child.
ter care system. A n estimated 20 percent to 40
“These kids need a loving, stable, permanent
percent of homeless youth arc gay, lesbian or hi,
home, which is what my family provides,” Kauf-
and queer kids account for about 30 percent of man said. “This settlement is what I’ve wanted
adolescent suicides.
all along— for my application to be processed
Amid vicious rhetoric from several con and assessed like all the others and for kids who
servative Republicans on the Assembly floor—
badly need homes to have that chance.”
Dennis Mountjoy of Monrovia declared angrily,
“This bill says it’s OK to be gay; it’s not OK to
ARKANSAS
be gay”— numerous Democrats stood up to
Q aying a state ban on gay and lesbian foster
voice their strong support for the bill. C o
O parenting does nothing to help children in
author Dion A roner of Berkeley remarked
need and is based only on bias and stereotypes,
afterward, “Mr. M ountjoy’s comments provided
the American Q v il Liberties U nion filed papers
a perfect example of the kind of intolerant
Aug. 20 asking a judge to strike down the policy
behavior that this bill will protect vulnerable
once and for all.
foster youth against.”
In the lawsuit," originally filed in 1999, four
prospective foster parents— including a gay cou
P E N N S Y L V A N IA
ple who have been in a committed relationship
he Pennsylvania Supreme C ourt ruled
for 17 years and a heterosexual married man who
is barred from foster parenting because his gay son
unanimously Aug. 20 that the Pennsylva
lives at home— said the ban violates their right to
nia Adoption Act unequivocally allows a gay or
lesbian partner to adopt the other partner’s chil equal treatment under the federal and state con
dren. The decision follows four years of litiga stitutions. The policy was adopted by the states
Child Welfare Agency Review Board in 1999.
tion for two families, a gay couple in Erie with
two children and a lesbian couple from Lancast
“The child welfare board’s own attorneys
er with twin boys.
advised them against enacting this ban, and
The Superior Q uirt had held that
they went right ahead and did it any
the act first would require a legal parent
way,” said Rita Sklar, A CLU of
to relinquish his or her parental rights
Arkansas executive director. “They
before allowing a same-sex partner to
allowed their bias against gay people
adopt the children being raised by both
to guide their actions in the face of
of them. The Supreme Q u irt reversed
overwhelming social science evidence
that decision, calling the interpretation
that lesbians and gay men make per
“absurd," and remanded the cases for
fectly good foster parents.”
full evidentiary hearings.
In passing the policy, the board
“There is no language in the adop
relied on th e widely discredited
tion act precluding two unmarried Paul Cam eron
"junk science” of Paul Cameron,, a
same-sex partners...from adopting a
psychologist whose efforts to paint
child who had no legal parents. It is therefore
gay men and lesbians as child abusers and
absurd to prohibit their adoption merely because
prone to violence and disease have been
their children were the biological or adopted
rejected in federal court and caused him to be
children of one of the partners prior to the filing
booted out of the American Psychological
of the adoption petition," states the unanimous
A ssociation for unscientific and unethical
court decision authored by C h ief Justice
practices in his work.
Stephen A. Zappala.
“T he board based this ban on a handful of
ugly and outdated stereotypes and then went out
This ruling is critical to providing kids with
the rights associated with a legal parent-child : looking for any evidence to back up what it had
relationship including inheritance rights, Social
done,” attorney Leslie Q xiper said. “The board
Security survivor benefits, eligibility for health | has yet to come up with any evidence that gay
insurance benefits, medical decision-making
people are bad parents from a legitimate scien-
authority, child support payments and custody,
tific source— th at’s because there isn’t any." J H
Same-sex couples throughout Pennsylvania
now will have the opportunity to adopt their Compiled by News Editor J im R a d o s t a , who can
partners’ children.
be reached at jim@justnut.com.
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