All across our country, there are children awaiting adoption and eager parents who would like to welcome those children into their homes, but are banned from doing so. These parents have broken no laws, and, in many cases, possess all the skills and resources to make excellent parents. Why, then, are these people denied the right to become parents, and why are so many children left without families when would-be parents are often living nearby? This is one of the remaining areas of discrimination in our “free” country – that gays and lesbians are, in too many places throughout America, banned from becoming adoptive parents, which is taking away their human rights.

There are a number of different viewpoints on the issue of gay adoption. The way I see it, as long as the gay couple has the ability to create a loving environment and are ready to be parents, they should not be denied their human rights to adopt a child and form a family. In contrast, the Catholic religion opposes gay adoption because they believe that it is not healthy for a child to grow up with gay parents. This is because gays or lesbian couples are only one sex, which means the child is denied either a father or a mother. However, they are forgetting that gays have family, including aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and also teachers to be influenced by. While the parents will be the child's main influence, they will have other people in their lives too. Furthermore, I am sure that a foster child would prefer living in a loving and nurturing home with a nice gay or lesbian couple, rather than moving around from foster parent to foster parent. Foster children are often victims of "foster care shuffle." For example, a child can live in twenty different homes before he or she turns eighteen. Anna Freud, a child psychologist, wrote “a child can handle almost anything better than instability.”

As a society, we worry about gays as parents, but gay parents worry about the impact of society on their children. People are worried that children being adopted by gays will be harmed because; kids may tease them about their parents. However, I believe that if gays and lesbians were able to adopt more frequently, and without discrimination, the world would be more open about gays as parents. This information about being teased was taken from a story given by a nine-year-old. I think that as she gets older, her friends will be less likely to tease and be more accepting. I do not think anyone here at my school would make fun of one of their friend’s parents because of their sexual orientation. Allowing gays or lesbians to adopt will open so many doors. Many children in foster care will have a permanent home for the first time, and the gays and lesbians will have their human rights to be parents given back to them.

There are many places that allow gay adoption and other places that ban gays from adopting. “Why,” you ask, “don’t they just move to a place that allows them to adopt?” Well, for one thing, they should not have to move because it should be their right to adopt. Two, it’s a hassle to move. Florida, for example, bans gay adoption. Let’s say a couple wants to adopt, a gay couple, and they have lived there for their entire life. Now, they want to bring a child home, and show their kid the places they loved when they were young. However, since they can’t adopt, they are forced to not adopt a child or to move. Once they move, they are going to raise a kid in a place that they themselves may hardly know. Third, even once they move it is hard to find an adoption organization that allows gays to adopt. Here are some of the places that allow gay adoption: New York, California, and Connecticut. Places that ban gay adoption: Florida, Michigan, and Utah.

It is their human right to adopt and, more adoption agencies need to be open to allowing gays to adopt. We need to change the laws in the states that do not permit them to adopt. We need to protest the discrimination and bring the issue to the government. We need to spread the message that gays have a human right to adopt. With everyone’s help gays will have their human rights back.

To end, here’s a short story: My parents went on a group trip to China with other parents who were going to adopt. When they finally reached my orphanage, they brought out the babies, and it was a touching moment when they got to see their child for the first time. To deny someone that joy based solely on their sexual orientation is not only taking away their human right, but is depriving some wonderful would-be parents of what could have been a very special moment. If we work hard together, gays and lesbians will also have this joy of receiving their babies, their human rights, and there will be many, many happy families.