State Uses Bad Science To Back Its Bad Gay Adoption Ban

Florida is the only state in the union with laws that specifically single out gay people from adopting, and again that ban is being challenged as a gay Man who has been the foster parent of two sons since 2004 petitions for adoption. Now, are you ready for the huge friggin' list of respected organizations that support gay adoption? Hold on because it's long: the American Psychological Association, the Child Welfare League of America, the American Bar Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the North American Council on Adoptable Children, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychoanalytic Association, and the American Academy of Family Physicians.

But did the State call in any experts from these organization to testify during the trial? No, they called in two suspect researchers George A. Rekers and Walter R. Schumm, whose work in the area is largely discredited by their peers.

The Herald's story does a good job of pointing out why these men aren't exactly the most authoritative scientific voices, but let's take a closer look.
Rekers has testified in court that he believes the Bible is God's word and that homosexuality is a sin. He's also believes that through treatment homosexuals can become heterosexuals, this notion too is scuffed at by most of the scientific and medical communities. He testified in a similar court case in Arkansas and the presiding judge said his testimony was extremely suspect, and that he was out promoting his own personal agenda. As the Herald points out, amongst the other people Rekers would like to ban from adopting children: people with more than 18 sexual partners and Native Americans.

The scientific research on LGBT parenting is far from over, but just about every mainstream study concludes that children raised in same sex households are just as physically and mentally healthy as those raised in opposite sex households. The only difference comes from perception of gender roles, but if you haven't noticed our society in the past few decades has largely rejected traditional gender roles.

So whatever. The State has a shitty law that for some reason it feels it needs to keep on the books, and instead of looking at the mainstream science on the subject they hire two biased wackos. Liberty and justice for all, indeed.

--Kyle Munzenrieder