A state proposal
to ban adoption by gays and lesbians is likely to
die as legislative leaders focus on Ohio's lagging economy,
a top house aide in Columbus said. A group of the
most socially conservative house members introduced
the bill Thursday to prevent children from being
placed for adoption or foster care in homes where the
prospective parent or a roommate is gay, bisexual, or transgender.
Scott Borgemenke, chief of staff to house
speaker Jon Husted, dismissed the bill on Friday as
discriminatory and said Husted, a Dayton-area
Republican, has other priorities. "There's a growing concern
within the Republican Party of continuing to introduce
this divisive legislation," he said. "We don't think
there's some cottage industry of homosexual adoptions.
We do believe people are losing their jobs."
State representative Ron Hood, the Ashville
Republican sponsoring the bill, said he believes
children raised by gay parents have increased risk of
physical and emotional problems and might question their own
sexuality. "Studies have shown that the optimal setting to
raise children is in a traditional setting with a mom
and a dad," Hood said. The bill would not apply to
single men or women seeking to adopt.
Only Florida has an outright ban
on adoption by gays, although the state
allows gays to be foster parents. None of the similar bills
introduced in several states in recent years has passed,
according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Ohio has about 22,000 children in foster care.
About 3,000 are available for adoption because their
parents' rights to them are severed, according to 2004
figures from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.
Critics say the bill would not only tear
families apart but increase the wait for children to
get adopted. "There is always a shortage of foster
homes all over the country," said Susan Truitt, legal
projects coordinator for the National Center for
Adoption Law and Policy at Capital University in
Columbus. "To exclude an entire segment of the
population from the opportunity to foster or adopt is a
disservice to these children."
Truitt said those behind the bill are trying to
create a "wedge issue" for the November election.
"It's the 'get out the vote' for the right-wing nuts,"
she said.
But Barry Sheets, a Columbus lobbyist for
Citizens for Community Values, called the bill sound
public policy. The Cincinnati-based group led the
successful 2004 ballot initiative that amended the Ohio
constitution to ban same-sex marriage and civil
unions. "The state's responsibility is to be guardians
of these wards," Sheets said. "He [Hood] wants to make
sure that the state is taking very great care in looking at
what's in the best interest of the child first and foremost
and letting all other considerations become secondary."
Teresa Robinson, who with her partner, Kelly
Robinson, raises three daughters and two foster
children in suburban Cincinnati, said she felt under
attack. "What are they thinking?" Robinson, 43, said.
"There are no studies whatsoever saying that a child
benefits greater being in a gay home or a straight
home. It's like having someone put a KKK cross in your
front yard. In someone's opinion, you're not right. The
crazy thing is, they're the ones that have the hatred in
their heart. They're they ones that have the fear in
their heart. I'm just raising kids and paying taxes."
(AP)
