Logic Final Project

Gay couples should be allowed to adopt children.

PROS:

- Children need the protection that goes along with having two legally recognized parents. (Jarvis)
- Children could lose benefits for health insurance, veterans, disability, social security, life insurance and worker compensation. (Jarvis)
- Reports by [the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatry Association, and the American Pediatric Association] "find that there are no differences in the parenting of homosexuals or the adjustment of their children. ("Ban Political Exploitation of Children")
- There is no empirical evidence that would suggest that growing up with gay parents would negatively impact their well-being. (Erich & Sioco)
- Child psychology experts testified that there was no scientific evidence that would support the state's ban on gay adoption, and that it would be in the children's best interests if they stayed with Gill and his partner. (Erich & Sioco)
- Lesbian, gay, and bisexual parents are as well suited to raise children as their heterosexual counterparts. (Erich & Sioco)
- By excluding gays and lesbians from the prospective resource parent pool, some children will not be afforded the privilege of having a permanent home (Erich & Sioco)
- If the sexual orientation of the parents was what would determine the sexual orientation of the children, then presumably we won't have so many gay children growing up in heterosexual homes. (Erich & Sioco)
- In war-torn, impoverished countries there are starving orphans who would be better off if they were adopted by carefully screened homosexual couples. (Dent)
- Same-sex couples are more likely to adopt children who linger in the foster system, such as minorities and kids who are older or have special needs (Pappas)
- Gay and lesbian parents provide a unique environment that promotes open-mindedness, tolerance, and gender equality. (Pappas)
- Gay parents "tend to be more motivated, more committed than heterosexual parents on average, because they chose to be parents." (Pappas).
- Gays and lesbians are especially accepting of open adoptions, where the child retains some contact with his or her birth parents.  (Pappas)
- Birth parents often have no problem with their kids being raised by same-sex couples. (Pappas)
- Kids of same-sex couples—both adopted and biological kids—fare no worse than the kids of straight couples on mental health, social functioning, school performance and a variety of other life-success measures. (Pappas)
- Children of gay parents also reported feeling less stymied by gender stereotypes than they would have been if raised in straight households. (Pappas)
- Without this legal status, he or she is unable to make medical decisions, sign school permission slips, and in some cases, provide health insurance (Willis 65)
- Once a child is 2 years old, his chances of being adopted drop significantly (Willis 67)
- Active, honest public recruitment of the gay and lesbian population would eliminate children lingering in foster care (Willis 67)
- All of this effort will be rendered unnecessary when gays and lesbians achieve marriage equality on a nationwide basis (Willis 68) 
- Children raised by gay parents are as healthy and well adjusted as children raised by heterosexual parents (Williams 131)
- Children who have been adopted by one member of a same-sex couple should also be able to be adopted by the other member of the couple (Williams 131)
- Children adopted by homosexuals could grow up with the stability of having two legally recognized parents (Williams 131)
- There is no credible evidence that children raised in non-traditional families suffer from a lack of love, stability, or safety (Williams 133)
- An academy committee reviewed 20 years of research and concluded that children raised by homosexuals are just as well-adjusted as their counterparts reared by heterosexuals (Williams 133) 
- The "large majority of children who grew up in lesbian households identified as heterosexual" (Williams 144)

CONS:
- Homosexuality would attract unnecessary social stigma to the children.(Erich & Sioco)
-  Scientifically, children could become homosexuals as well.
(Erich & Sioco)
- Homosexual relationships were oftentimes unstable and insecure, thus likely prompting depression. (Erich & Sioco)
- Children become gay because of having gay parents. (Erich & Sioco)
- Same-sex couples have been and are associated with practices that impair personal and parental effectiveness, such as high-risk sexual activities, including multiple sex partners, higher rates of emotional problems and substance abuse (Liberty Counsel)
- Children are denied biological ties with parents, subjected to increased instability and high rates of abuse, denied gender-specific nurturing from a mother or father, and are more likely to be confused about their own sexuality. (Dent)
- There is evidence that children raised by homosexuals are more likely to engage in homosexuality and to feel confused about their sexual identity. (Dent)
- Homosexuals are less inclined than heterosexuals to marry, and gays who do marry have a high divorce rate. (Dent)
- Children in these homes are more likely to witness conflict over infidelity and to see it as a normal part of marriage (Dent)
- Same-sex marriage should not be recognized by law, artificial reproduction should be permitted only to traditional married couples, and adoption by same-sex couples should be allowed only in limited circumstances. (Dent)
- It presumes (falsely) an equivalence in the character of heterosexual versus homosexual relationships. (Haines) 
- It contributes to a deformation of the family. (Haines)
- Gays and lesbians want the "right" to adopt only to gratify themselves and not help the children (Willis  69)
- Major religious traditions require that a real family have both a father and a mother (Willis 69)
- It is an injustice to a child to allow him or her to be adopted into a family with same-gender parents (Willis 69)
- Although homosexuality has been normalized, it is not normal (Willis 70)
- Preventing homosexuals from adopting effectively protects children from being negatively influenced or even physically harmed by the adults who are supposed to protect them (Williams132)
- Youths need both a mother and a father to grow up to be stable and healthy adults (Williams 139)
- Children who grow up in homosexual households are more likely to try homosexuality, to be confused about their gender identity, and to be exposed to disease (Williams 139)
- A household that is missing an entire parental sex, that is, missing a mother or a father, is not equal to a married household (Williams 140)
- [Children] need the best situation. This is finding homes with a married mother and father (Williams 140)
- Children in single-mother homes can tell you that they don't crave another mom; they want a father. Kids in single-father homes don't crave another daddy; they want a mom (Williams 140)
- It is wrong to place a child in a deliberately motherless or fatherless household (Williams 141)
- Children with homosexual parents are considerably more apt to lose a parent to death (Williams 142)
- Mothers and fathers provide crucial things to children that cannot be duplicated in a same-sex household (Williams 142)
- The study has shown that children of married couples are more likely to do well at school, in academic and social terms, than children of cohabiting heterosexual and homosexual couples (Williams 143)
- The gay parenting studies, as a whole, are extremely flawed (Williams 143)
- The conclusion that there are no significant differences in children reared by lesbian mothers versus heterosexual mothers is not supported by the published research data base (Williams 143)
- Studies show that girls are more likely to "be sexually adventurous and less chaste," including being more likely to try lesbianism, and that boys are more likely to have "fluid" conceptions of gender roles (Williams 144)
- Children raised in same-sex households are more likely to view homosexuality positively, try homosexuality themselves, or to suffer gender identity confusion (Williams 144) 
- Those who had grown up in lesbian households were more likely to consider the possibility of having lesbian or gay relationships, and to actually do so (Williams 144)
- Growing up in a lesbian household's "accepting atmosphere" of homosexuality may "facilitate the development of a lesbian or gay sexual orientation for some individuals (Williams 144)
- Medical journals report drastically higher incidences of sexually transmitted diseases, shortened life spans, domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse, and psychological problems among homosexuals (Williams 145)
- Children need and want both a mother and a father (Williams 145)
- The needs of the children must be placed before the desires of adults (Williams 145)




WORKS CITED

Labels: Introduction to Logic