OK, kiddo! Here are all the fantastically amazing posts tagged with Same-sex adoption
Dads Win Right To Remove Surrogate From Birth Certificate
Two same-sex fathers in Saskatchewan have won the right to amend their child’s birth certificate, removing the name of a surrogate mother.
The surrogate, identified only as Mary, carried the child to term using an embryo created from the sperm of one of the fathers and an ova from an anonymous donor. Despite being neither the child’s biological, nor adoptive mother, she was listed as the child’s mother by the hospital on the birth certificate. This was the case for two years, until a court ruled otherwise late last week.
In Canada, it’s standard practice for a child’s adoptive parents to be listed on their birth certificate. Listing the biological parents would be unusual, and until this case I had never actually heard of a non-adoptive, non-biological surrogate ever being listed as a parent. Still, I’ve already heard rumblings from enraged goofballs, calling this case political correctness run amok, a deterioration of the definition of children, etc. etc. Considering the long precedent of in vitro fertilization and listing adoptive parents as official parents on birth certificates, I find it very strange that this outrage only seems to emerge when the parents happen to be a same-sex couple.
Good thing these weirdos don’t matter. Congratulations to the two dads, and their daughter. Your official documents now reflect the nature of your family perfectly, and I wish you all the best!
Acceptance Of Gay Families Inching Forward
A new survey out of Indiana University suggests that 68 percent of Americans now consider gay couples with children to be families. This is an increase from 2003, where only 54 percent of respondents said so.
Encouraging as that is, there’s still a large group—30 percent—who indicated that pets count as family, but not same-sex couples. No word on how many of them have actually tried to declare Mister Snugglekins III as a dependent for tax purposes, but these kooks sure have a crazy idea of what makes a family. Of course, they’re also largely the same group of people that like to define themselves as “pro-family,” (as opposed to the more accurate “anti-gay”) even though—by their definition—it’s legal to have some members of your family put down if they get too expensive to care for.
In the meantime, I guess a third of Americans had better update their wills to include Sir Wigglepuss, or they’ll have some costly family legal battles to deal with later.
A big thank you to Slap reader Matt for the story!
- Who’s a family? New study tracks shifting US views [Associated Press]
Politician Accuses State of Selling Children to Gays
Alfred Baldasaro, a Republican State Representative for New Hampshire, went on a bizarre rant this week, starting with the accusation that the state government was selling children to gay couples for $10,000 a pop.
The statement was made in reference to same-sex adoption, which has been legal in New Hampshire since 1999. When asked to rescind the offensive remark, Baldasaro simply repeated it: “I wanted to make sure everyone understood here, that this legislature sold the rights of $10,000 per kid under title four, when they said that homosexual couples, not married, can adopt.”
This was only the start of the rant, mind you. Baldasaro then directly compared gay couples to incestuous ones, asking “aren’t we discriminating against all them?”
“What about the Muslims?”, he continued. “Everyone’s praising the Muslims. They’re killing us. What about them, they want three, four wives. We’re discriminating against them!”
…
Well, that was a masterpiece of crazy.
Baldasaro’s statements were made in support of a bill that would ban same-sex marriage in the state, demonstrating exactly the type of people that are typically behind those types of bills.
- New Hampshire GOPer: State is selling children to gay couples [Digital Journal]
French Court Kinda OKs Gay Adoption, Almost
Promising news from France this week.
A French lesbian has won a court case in her fight to adopt a child. In 1998 and 2008, Emmanuelle B’s adoption papers were rejected, citing a “lack of paternal figure.” An upper court finally reversed that decision on Tuesday morning, noting that “the household conditions offered by the demander with regards to family, education, and psychology correspond to the needs and the interests of an adopted child.”
This would be a big victory for same-sex couples and all the children looking for homes across France, except for one detail: The courts only authorized Emmanuelle as the adoptive parent, leaving out her longtime partner, Laurence R.
France has routinely allowed single persons to adopt children; nevertheless, until Tuesday, Emmanuelle had been rejected from adopting even as the sole legal applicant simply because she is gay. While the court decision recognized this unequal treatment and opened the door to for gays and lesbians to adopt, they stopped short of letting same-sex couples adopt children. That is, if a gay or lesbian couple wants to adopt, one half of that couple must be left out of the legalities, or their application will be rejected.
The fact that France allows singles to adopt children (and has done so for quite some time) flies in the face of their “lack of paternal figure” reasoning against same-sex couples. Here’s hoping the courts follow the next logical step and lets children in need of a loving home find just that!
- French lesbian wins adoption case [BBC News]
- Lesbian gets green light to adopt [RFI English]
Alberta Government Caves, Lets Gay Couple Adopt
The abolishment of an obscure protocol has made Lance Anderson and Blair Croft the first gay parents to adopt through a non-private agency in Alberta.
Croft, a child care worker, originally filled out the adoption paperwork in 2004. After impressing social workers with their success in the mandatory parenting courses and home inspections, the couple was immediately approved. Or, rather, they were approved… until assistant deputy minister Bill Meade got word of their efforts. Two days after the approval, Bill outlined a new “protocol for adoptive placement with same-sex couples.”
Under the protocol, offices were forced to look for other parents for the child before considering the same-sex couple, first regionally, then provincially. If no other parents were available, the child would then go through “media recruitment,” including a website promotion and weekly television segment. If parents could still not be found for the child, the same-sex applicants would be scrutinized and the final approval—unlike all other adoptions—would have to go up through the ranks to the deputy minister himself.
Privately, social workers suggested filing for adoption as a single parent to avoid the hoopla.
Luckily, the Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act abolished the same-sex adoption protocol earlier last year. Jody Korchinski, a spokesperson for Child Services, assured same-sex couples that Lance and Blair’s horrible experience won’t be repeated:
The sexual orientation of the parents is certainly not a considering factor. What we’re looking at is in terms of the home: Is it stable? Is it permanent? Is it loving? Can they provide the medical attention? A safe and secure environment? Education of the child? It’s the interests of the child that are put first.
What a novel concept! Well, congratulations, guys!
- Gay couple leaps ‘walls’ to adopt son [Edmonton Journal]
