Add Kentucky to the gay adoption battleground. The state where McDonald’s customers are called “faggots” is also home to new legislation that’s trying to keep gay parents from adopting. Or, as the bill states, children would only be put in adoptive or foster homes with those who “are not cohabiting outside of a marriage that is legally valid in Kentucky.” But, two pieces of good news.
First, if the legislation passed, children already placed with gay families before it was signed into law wouldn’t be affected.
And second, gay rights activists are involved to keep the bill from going on the books.
Chris Hartman, head of The Fairness Campaign, said the legislation unjustly rules out potentially good parents just because they’re not married in the traditional sense.
“We literally can’t afford to play politics with these children’s lives,” Hartman said. “Hundreds of children are awaiting adoption each day in Kentucky, and it should be our politicians’ jobs to find them a home, not to categorically eliminate potential loving parents with an anti-gay political attack.”
But how’s this for a rebuttal?
How about we take this to the next level?
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David Edmunds, a spokesman for The Family Foundation, said the legislation isn’t discriminatory toward gay and lesbian couples because it also bars unmarried heterosexual couples from adoption and foster care.
“Kentucky needs to find the best homes possible for children,” Edmunds said. “This is not about an adults’ rights issue. It’s about what is in the best interest of our children.”
Of of this comes on the heels of a Kentucky court of appeals 3-0 ruling that prohibited judges from granting step-parent adoption rights to gay couples — making step-parent adoptions available to only to someone legally married to the biological mother or father of the child. And because gays can’t marry each other in Kentucky, well, you get the idea.
ChristopherM
Your statement on step-parent adoptions needs to be clarified. It was a 3-0 vote dismissing the case because the biological mom who brought the case brought it past the statute of limitations for contesting an adoption, so her partner got to keep her parental rights. The judge who wrote the opinion went on to admonish the family court judge here in Jefferson County (Louisville) for allowing the adoption in the first place since our adoption statute prohibits step-parent adoptions by an unmarried couple regardless of orientation. That part of the opinion was not necessary, and sadly will ward off lower court judges from doing step-parent (or second parent) adoptions here. But the ruling wasn’t on whether gay people could adopt the biological child of their partner…it was about one particular couple (who frankly fucked it up for all of us…thanks a lot!).
And by the way, while there are a hell of a lot of bigots in this state, I think you could find a McDonalds in any state in the U.S. where some dumbass would call someone a faggot.
dickie
Isn’t this an attempt to repeat what happened in Arkansas?
its sad to see stuff like this happen in my home state. I know its not the most productive thing to do, but stuff like this is why I moved to Chicago.
My mother championed an Independent Living program in NKY for LGBT kids, but it never made it through… the state wouldn’t fund a pro LGBT program like that, even though its sorely needed. Too many of those kids get placed in homes where the adults are religioug zealots and it ends up very poorly for the kid.
Sebbe
@ChristopherM – thanks for the clarification. IMO that makes an immense difference, not that I agree with the underlying adoption statues prohibiting straights either.
do gays really want to eat at McDonalds?
@dickie – does NKY stand for Northern KY I assume? I don’t think that abbreviation is known by us coastals. The only thing I know about KY is Nick Lachey was from there and they went there on Newlyweds. I don’t think outside of that I have ever even seen anything on or in KY.
Dickie
haha, I forget sometimes that people don’t get NKY, but you’re right. It is Northern Kentucky. Really, it’s just a ‘burb of Cincinnati though.
Sebbe
@Dickie – I have a friend who had to go to Cincinnati and was pleasantly surprised. You never really hear anything about Cinn. either, but I’ve met a lot of nice people from there.
Monica Roberts
As a Houston native who came her to Kentucky (don’t ask) a while back.. I can ASSURE you that no self respecting transwoman in Louisville has time for a damn BABY, so they can kiss my unshave ass.
Leave babies to so called “legally recognized genders” so that you can be called “mother” and “father” and not have to spend countless hours explaining to your new ugly baby how being a trans gender is so difficult these days, with all the blogging, the rallies about toilet seats and the endless emails.
HYHYBT
I’ve been called “faggot” and similar at McDonald’s several times, but so far, always by customers…
Sebbe
@hyhybt – really? That is horrible.
You know there really is two America’s no matter what anyone else says. It is really sad.
I often find myself saying, why don’t people just move to a better area, a more liberal, progressive state. I have to stop myself and remember, I had a very good friend from a red state. He came to New England for university, Boston specifically. It was the first time he was out in his life. The first pride parade he went to in Boston, he cried like a baby because he had never experienced acceptance he told me and how overwhelming it was.
When he finished school he went back home. I asked why would you want to go back? He said he had to, to fight for all the other lgbt people that he left behind – and I cried like a baby. Well maybe not like a baby, but it was very emotional.
12334
There are lgbt and liberal folks all across this country. In every town and guess what we’re not miserable. We are working for change, simply by living as citizens.
BTW I live in NYC for works sake, but since the economy is in the sh*tter, I’m ready for a move back home. Seems like the big city areas force young people (ie ppl in thier 20s) to live in a perpetual boyhood. Not my scene, seeing as I’m rearing on 30.
Charles J. Mueller
@Sebbe:
Your post just brought a lump to my throat and tears to my eyes as well.
Sebbe
@Charles – me too, I don’t know how he does it. Lucky he gets out of the state often and has found someone and they love each other. But, still I give him a lot of credit. I wouldn’t be able to do it if I had come from a place like that.