Class Links

Aperry's blog "Gay Marriage in America! Should it be Allowed?" is arguing a very similar topic. In the About Me portion it is obvious that Aperry believes that gay couples should be allowed to marry but at the same time does not force their opinions on others. Also the "Links" has a lot of good further reading.

"The Abortion Debate" is well researched blog about abortion. It is visited frequently because there are a lot of comments for each blog. Also it brings up the topic of partial births.

"Legalize Marijuana?" is a great blog that makes legalization of marijuana an academic argument. There are a lot of good links. Also the blog posts are unbiased.

Self-Analysis

The time I have spent writing this blog has helped me learn a lot. Most importantly I have learned what is a creditable source. Gay adoption is an important binary issue that I believe only same-sex couples should have any concern with. Gay couples are becoming more open and are no longer afraid of not being "normal". So just like heterosexual couple, gay couples want children. For example many articles like, "Adoption by gay couples on the rise", show that more same-sex couples adopt. This assignment has made me expand my views and find a binary issue within a condensed topic.

Implications

The gay population in the world is rising fairly quickly. With this also comes a rise in gay adoption. Also more Americans support gay couples. However if this issue were to remain in the state it is now then the world would be in disarray. The whole United States would ban same-sex adoption, which now 16 states propose a ban on gay adoption. In addition there would be a lot more same-sex protests.

Rosie O'Donnell's Cruise for Gay Families

On March 30, 2006 Rosie O'Donnell's television special, "All Aboard!," aired on HBO. The special showed O'Donnell and a few other same-sex parents on a cruise. O'Donnell says, "the illusion about gay people is that it's all about sex. What unites us on this cruise is not that we're gay, but that we're parents."

One of the young girls said, "the hardest thing is to have to constantly defend your family." The purpose of the cruise was to let these families be around other families that are similar to them.

The Difference

On May 11, 2007, The Toronto Star published an article about the affect of having same-sex parents. The article reports that the Canadian government has been hiding report on same-sex parenting, since the report, while not explicitly mentioning marriage, provides plenty of evidence that gay unions are good for children. Paul Hastings, Concordia University psychologist, obtained a copy under the Access to Information Act. Hastings has analyzed over 100 studies and has come to the conclusion that children raised by same-sex parents are not very different fr0m those raised by heterosexual couples.

The only problem that children with gay parents face is discrimination. Some of these children are teased, bullied, and may face social isolation. This is a serious problem that can lead to the child committing suicide. However the studies that Hastings analyzed show that same-sex parents are better at neutilizing the discrimination than heterosexual couples.

References:
Wilkes, Jim. "Two Parents are better than one." The Toronto Star 11 May 2007: A20.

Links

Here is some links that I have found quite useful in forming my opinions while writing my posts:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/gayadopt_poll020402.html
http://gaylife.about.com/od/gayparentingadoptio1/a/gayparent.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2001-08-23-kids-gay-parents-usat.htm
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/06/25/gay.adoption/index.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,170219,00.html
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/02/04/usat-coparents.htm
http://www.queerparents.org/familyvalues.html
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~thepress/read.php?id=102
http://www.cyh.com/HealthTopics/HealthTopicDetails.aspx?p=240&np=296&id=2038
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/articles/960916/archive_034474_print.htm
http://www.ofspirit.com/tw-theyalechildstudy.htm

Theory

Same-sex parents are becoming more accepted in society. Same-sex parents are seeing the difference in heterosexual acceptance over the past decade. Children of gay parents are now being allowed in many private schools, including Christian schools. Clergy members are indirectly blessing gay-headed families by baptizing their children. There is an increased availability of donor banks and surrogate mothers for same-sex couples. Also the rise in gay-headed families has been aided by a greater willingness among adoption agencies to accept gay men and lesbians as parents.

There is also a rise in sites dedicated to supporting children of same-sex couples. Such as the site made by the the Youth Leadership and Action Program of COLAGE (Children Of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere) that has tips for teachers on classroom safety for children of same-sex couples. These sites and attitude of society is helping gay couples feel more accepted.