THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN BY HOMOSEXUALS

As homosexual persons in the United States increasingly make their personal sexual identities and lifestyle preferences public, their demands for the protection of their civil rights also increases. One of the rights demanded by a growing number of homosexual persons--the right to adopt children--generates enormous controversy. This research examines the issue of the right of homosexual persons to adopt children. A history of the controversy surrounding the issue of child adoption homosexual by homosexual persons is followed by a presentation of the positions of the opposing groups on this issue. These conflicting positions then are analyzed, and a tentative conclusion is drawn with respect to the right of homosexual persons to adopt children.

While the reality of the adoption of children by homosexual individuals dates far back in history, the controversy over the practice is of relatively recent origin (Boswell 35-37). The explanation for this anomaly is that until relatively recently most homosexual persons went to great lengths to keep secret their sexual identities. The open adoption of children was not consistent with concealing a homosexual identity. The controversy over the adoption of children by homosexual persons in the United States, thus, dates to the late-1960s when, in the wake of increasing numbers of homosexual persons beginning to make public their sexual identities, t

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ernment from promoting homosexuality. The 1992 anti gay rights campaign in Oregon sparked an increase in violence directed toward homosexuals (Gallagher 46-49). The violence directed at homosexuals produced two outcome that harmed the OCA and Fundamentalist Christian cause. First, a multi-million dollar lawsuit was filed against the Fundamentalist Christian anti gay rights activists, and second the majority of Oregon's voters quickly turned against the OCA. In the 1992 anti gay rights campaign, Senator Bob Packwood of sexual harassment fame backed the OCA-sponsored initiative, while United States Representative Les AuCoin opposed the measure (Knickerbocker 1). Packwood, a Republican, and AuCoin, a Democrat, mirrored the national platforms of their respective parties in the 1992 general election. The renewed anti gay rights effort by the OCA met strong resistance from much of the business community in Oregon this time around, because of a rear of the type of boycott that struck Colorado in the wake of the passage of the anti gay rights initiative in that state (Romano 78-81). Additionally, the Oregon state legislature enacted a law intended to nullify local government bans on homosexual rights (Gallagher 30-31). The OCA c
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Approximate Word count = 5499
Approximate Pages = 22 (250 words per page)