There are a lot more gay parents in the US than people realize. Not only is there the issue of gay adoption, there are gays and lesbians who have biological children of their own and they add value to American society.
There are some recent research statistics that have shed the light on gay parenting. These stats have been compiled in “Adoption and Foster Care by Gay and Lesbian Parents in the United States”— which is a March 2007 report issued jointly by the Williams Institute of the UCLA School of Law and the Urban Institute of Washington, DC.
The numbers are more than a little interesting. According to this study:
* More than one in three lesbians has given birth.
* One in six gay men has fathered or adopted a child.
* Over 50% gay men want to have a child.
* Over 41% of lesbians want to raise children.
* More than 16,000 adopted children are living with a lesbian or gay parent.
These numbers are great but this study on gay adoption and gay parenting in general also found that the same sex partners who are raising kids are more educated, wealthier and a little older than other adoptive parents.
I think it’s fabulous that these people are not only adopting kids but becoming part of the foster care system. There are over 14,000 children currently living in same sex households. That is 3 percent of the foster children in the US.
If the country was to impose a national ban on gay foster parenting it would have a disasterous affect on the economy. It could cost the federal government upwards of $130 million. This just hows how important gay parenting is to the entire country, people need to be thanking gays and lesbians for loving and caring for these kids who would have no one without them.
It’s important that we all support gay adoption across the country. There are tens of thousands of children who need stable and loving homes and tens of thousands of same sex partners willing to offer them.
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That is such a sweet and endearing photo. I do not have anything against parent of the same sex. I grew up without a father figure it would be great if I even had two mom.
Leslie