Bigotry and gay adoption

It's important for we progressives to call out the right for its bigotry whenever possible.

The Rovian Republicans are at it again. As the 2006 election approaches, right-wing strategists realize that to maintain power, they must again rile up their base. Give conservatives a reason to fight the culture war from the ballot box, the thinking goes, and their presence will help guarantee top-ticket results.

What were statewide gay marriage bans in 2004 appear to be gay adoption bans this fall. Ballot initiatives in 16 states speak to the fact that the Republican Party is again relying on deeply held biases to stay in office.

To me, however, there's no moderation on this issue. There's no gray area. There's no coalition to be formed. There's right and there's wrong. There's love and there's hate. Call me stubborn and close-minded, but if you are against gay adoption, you are a bigot. A hateful, prejudiced bigot.

Why put these shameful measures on the ballot now? Whatever happened to putting forward an agenda of real ideas and inspiring voters to choose which party most embodies their beliefs? When did playing on ignorance and hatred become a get-out-the-vote tactic? Only a weakened party unable to govern would make this strategy its top priority.

The fact that issues like this are even up for a vote proves that the Republican Party is not only morally bankrupt, but also absent ideas. It's not about helping people, of course, because to do so would mean a radical shift in Republican policy. It would mean treating actual human beings with the same respect the right treats clumps of cells. It would mean helping children in the early stages of their lives. It would mean teaching parents and potential parents to make educated decisions. Above all else, it would mean more attention paid to the very safety net Republicans have steadily eroded.

Where are the Republicans stepping up to adopt children clearly starving for love? Where are the Republicans backing the comprehensive sex education that would help prevent unwanted pregnancies? Where are the Republicans working for solutions that don't involve hate, that don't involve the continued stigmatization of normal, good-hearted Americans?

Republicans supporting these bans, you see, don't care about families. Nor do they care about children. They care about using people as scapegoats. That way, they can divert attention from their own shortcomings to a common enemy. Government in tatters? Blame liberals! Economy in the tank? Blame immigrants! Marriage in trouble? Blame homosexuals! If the right couldn't answer charges with "They did it," they would have nothing. No group has better perfected buck passing and blame gaming than the Bush-era Republican Party.

Today's Republicans aren't about progress. They're about being a thorn in its side. How else could you explain a party whose constituents spend more time fighting evolution, complaining about Howard Stern and protesting outside of hospices and abortion clinics than working for solutions to more pressing problems? Only small-minded people think SpongeBob SquarePants is a greater threat to the American way of life than myriad actual concerns.

Like many people, I can speak to this story personally. One of my very best friends is a gay man who happens to have adopted a beautiful son. The only thing atypical about the situation is the love and attention the doting father provides his son. The only thing unusual about the situation is the undivided attention my friend gives his one and only. The only thing abnormal about the situation is the massive amount of toys, books and puzzles in their home.

In fact, he's a better father than those who would have prevented the adoption could ever hope to be. He's a better man, too. His son, accordingly, couldn't have it any better. The thought that there are people in this country who would fight to have kept them apart sickens me. And it should sicken you, too.

This isn't, as the right would have everyone believe, about special rights. It's about equal rights. The rights we take for granted. The rights to start a family, to be able to tuck your child in at night and know that everything you've done has led to this. To attend the recitals, plays and games. To enjoy watching them grow from childhood to adolescence and into adulthood. To share the same love that my parents shared with me.

If that is special, doesn't everybody deserve special?

I am bookmarking. The fundies fail to grasp that many of these children who need homes came from straight families.

K&R!!!

I really, really hope this backfires on them. It's just appallingly cynical and transparent. How dare they?
Until this came up I hadn't realized how stupidly backward other states are on this issue. In Vermont adoption by gays and lesbians has been formally legal for something like 15 years. It certainly illustrates the how wide the gap between states is.

Adoption is not a right. It is a privilege.

Further, adoption is not about the parents at all. It is about finding a loving home for a child. And there should be nothing limiting the options that a child has when trying to find a loving home. (In other words, I'm on your side, but it's important to be correct about these things).

with a loving home, extended family (yes they are instant cousins and nieces and nephews to the bigger family) fun, kindness and decency, and a better future for the kiddos than an orphanage or someplace they're not wanted.

That has nothing at all to do with the sex of either or both parents. An ideal family doesn't happen just because the parents are opposite sex. It's something you have to work hard for, and gay families have to work hardest for against all the amazing bigotry out there.

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and welcome to DU!

I am bookmarking this one.

So far here in Kansas, this issue is being held in committee. We are hoping and working toward keeping it there.

http://www.kansasequalitycoalition.org/

want to scream and fight about!

Let's help them energize their base, while doing nothing to energize ours.

IOW, let's do the same things we do over and over again every election cycle. Maybe it will all work out differently for us this time.

"And it should sicken you, too."

Yes, it does...I'm searching for the Pepto Bismol right now. ;)

No where...they run from the issue at every chance. Sorry, but this is so foul to me, and unless the party supported by most GLT Americans stands up, this will only grow as a movement. Look, the repubs for the most part believe this crap....so no wonder they're pushing it. But where are the people standing up every day against this bigotry, who believe at their core it's wrong? Where are they?