Should Homosexual Parents Adopt Children?(revised)

Homosexual issues are often controversial in today’s society. More and more minorities demand equality in society, homosexual people also follow the trend and fight for their right. However, from a sociological perspective, there are many studies that support the idea of denouncing the legality of homosexuals. In many countries, it is still illegal for homosexuals to get married and adopt children. In my opinion, homosexuals should not adopt children.

First of all, children raised by gays or lesbians will easily confuse their sexual identity. For instance, in the article “The Sneaky Debate over Legalizing Adoption by Gay Couples,” William Saletan raises the issues such as ”Sexual identity confusion is common among children raised by gay parents,” and ”Children of lesbians are less likely to fit traditional gender roles.” Moreover, in the news, “New Jersey Court Decision on Gay Parents Adopting Children,” many people also appose the law on gay parents adopting children because they think a child has a better chance of developing a healthy sexual and emotional identity if raised by heterosexual parents. These evidences all point out the fact that children raised by homosexuals will be incapable of distinguishing their sexual orientation and the proper behaviors of a specific gender.

Second, children in homosexual families are difficult to build friendship with other people. As a matter of fact, because of widespread homophobia, many people still cannot accept homosexuals. Therefore, if children who are raised by homosexuals, they will easily be discriminated and insulted by other people. What’s worse, because people are not willing to befriend with children raised by homosexuals, these children may easily lose themselves and go astray. For example, the author of “ New Jersey Court Decision on Gay Parents Adopting Children” points out that “Common sense and an overwhelming body of social science data suggest that children raised outside of one-mother, one-father families are more likely to experience problems like drug abuse, depression, poor discipline, and confused sexual identity.”

Third, it is difficult for homosexuals to play the role of parents capably. Evidence in the article “ The Sneaky Debate over Legalizing Adoption by Gay Couples” reveals that “There is an increased incidence of suicide, depression, multiple sexual partners and domestic violence in homosexuals compared to the heterosexual population.” As a result, being adopted by homosexuals definitely put children in an awkward situation because there are too many uncertain factors, which may lead to unpredictable consequences. On the other hand, homosexual parents seem to be much harder to maintain stable relationship and furthermore, they may have problems in behaving properly as a mother and a father. Like William Saletan states in his article, “The Sneaky Debate over Legalizing Adoption by Gay Couples,” “It is hard for a gay couple to sustain the stable relationship,” and,” Children do best when raised by a mother and a father.” Because the same-sex parents may be unable to provide the love and care of the gender opposite to them, their children will lack complete love of both a father and a mother, and this situation will impact their personality development negatively.

However, some people believe that homosexuals can also be capable parents and they won’t give bad influence on children. Diana Hechavarria says in her article, “Family Matters: Gay and Lesbian Adoption,” that “We need to accept homosexuals are capable parents, and they do not produce dysfunctional behaviors in children, nor detrimentally affect their well being.” Controversially, this statement cannot prove the feasibility of homosexual parents adopting children because there indeed are a lot of problems in most homosexual families such as children’s sexual identities, lacking parental love, and inability of building friendship. Therefore, this is why most people disagree with homosexuals adopting children. For instance, like what I have mentioned above, “Common sense and an overwhelming body of social science data suggest that children raised outside of one-mother, one-father families are more likely to experience problems like drug abuse, depression, poor discipline, and confused sexual identity.” These evidences all hold the negative perspectives towards the adopting issue of homosexuals.

To sum up, I agree with most people’s points of view that it is not suitable and capable for homosexual parents to adopt children. What I have discovered about this issue is mostly negative opinions, which mean that the feasibility of homosexual parents adopting children should really be questioned and reconsidered.