Date: Tue, 17 Oct 1995 23:07:20 -0400 From: Mary Ann Murphy Subject: Right to adopt a child Following is this month's sample letter on lesbian, gay & bisexual issue. It is to be sent to your Congress Member. Please let us know if you send a letter fax or call - we'd like to know if our effort is working. October 17, 1995 The Hon. The U.S. House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515 Dear Representative You may soon be asked to vote on an appropriations bill for the District of Columbia. Please oppose any provision in it that would eliminate or restrict the right of lesbians or gays to adopt a child. It is my understanding that the bill's original language prohibits adoptions by lesbian or gay singles or couples, but that substitute language is being considered to permit adoptions by them, but only if they are single. I oppose either effort. Please vote against any provision in this or any other bill that would prohibit or limit the right of lesbian or gay singles or couples to adopt a child. Despite all the right-wing conservative rhetoric about this issue, there is simply no evidence to suggest that a child is harmed by being raised in a lesbian or gay family. In fact, numerous studies have shown that children growing up in gay and lesbian families end up as well adjusted as those who grow up in heterosexual families. The denial of a lesbian or gay person's right to adopt children is discriminatory and violates the due process and equal protection provisions of the United States Constitution. Justice Barbara Keenan, of the Virginia Supreme Court, wrote in her dissenting opinion in the Sharon Bottoms adoption case that the "adverse affects of a parent's homosexuality cannot be assumed without specific proof." Even our Canadian neighbors recognize the right of homosexual couples to adopt a child. In a decision in Ontario in June, Judge David Nevins said that the Canadian Law that prohibited adoptions by homosexual couples was discriminatory and "could not be justified in a free and democratic society." It can't be justified here either. It is appalling that there are so many children that need adoptive parents and yet caring, loving people might be denied the right to adopt them. As long as a couple can demonstrate that they are responsible and can provide the financial and nurturing needs of the child, they should be allowed to adopt regardless of whether they are married, unmarried, lesbian, gay or heterosexual. Please oppose any effort to restrict or limit the right of gays or lesbians to adopt in the District of Columbia or anywhere else in the United States. Love makes a family; nothing less, nothing else! Sincerely