Adoption Should Be Easier for Gays

It should be easier for gays and lesbians to adopt and raise children, panelists said yesterday in an Institute of Politics discussion at the Kennedy School of Government.

Discussion moderator Linda Kaboolian, assistant professor of public policy at the Kennedy School, told the audience not to expect any "fire-works or fistfights" from the event because the dozen conservative speakers the dozen conservative speakers she had invited to join the panel declined.

Still, the question and answer session became a heated debate over the right became a heated debate over the rights of gays and lesbians to be parents.

One audience member questioned whether homosexuals weren't being "selfish" in adopting children because a gay parent might provide a distorted view of sexuality.

"There is no evidence to prove that the sexual orientation of the parent affects, the sexual preferences of the child," said panelist Janet Zeller, the director of the Educational Child Day Care Center at Tufts University.

"The evidence is non-conclusive that environment changes sexual orientation," said Katherine Triantafillou, a Cambridge City Councillor and Suffolk University School of Law professor.

"However, there is a tendency for children of gay families to be more comfortable with the idea of [their children] having gay and lesbian relationships," Triantafillou added.

Panel members also discussed the perception held by many that homosexuals make inferior parents. They said gays are too often judged by too exclusively by their sexual orientation.

"Everybody thinks about what you do in bed," said Triantafillou. "The stereotype is that gay people are always having sex...even in front of their children."

She criticized opponents of gay adoption who use innuendo to influence the legal system in their favor.

Triantafillou recently won a landmark court case where the adoptive gay parents she represented were granted many of the rights afforded heterosexual parents.

She then discussed new psychology-based tactics which have recently been used to oppose gay adoption.

"The challenge now is when opponents say the children will always be teased by others with the fact that their parent(s) are gay," said Triantafillou.

One audience member asked if gays and lesbians are held to a higher standard when they try to adopt children.

All of the panelists agreed that homosexual couples experience a much more difficult examination that do comparable heterosexual couples seeking to adopt.

"A judge could order a home study if he or she felt like it, before anything goes through," Zeller said.

When an adult marries a parent with legal custody of child, the new spouse normally doesn't face much opposition in becoming a legal co-parent. This is rarely the case with gay couples, panelists said.

And the legal tangle that often results from divorce and remarriage among heterosexual couples can be a nightmare for gays and lesbians.

"If a gay couple separates, how is the property divided?" said Triantafillou." And if there was a child in the relationship, who gets custody?"

A personal perspective was offered by Cindy Rizzo, Associate Director of Development at the Fenway Community Health Center. She and her female partner have two young children.

"We've tried to build a support network so the [children] can relate to others who have gay parents," said Rizzo.

Rizzo added her perception that fears of gays deliberately "Swelling their ranks" are ridiculous.

The discussion was covered by National Public Radio.