Arkansas, the state where my parents relocated from Texas when I was just entering junior high, passed a ridiculous ballot provision this November, sponsored by a Little Rock-based, right-wing NPO called the Family Council Action Committee (FCAC), an offshoot of the Family Council of Arkansas (which is, in turn, an offshoot of Focus on the Family).
The proposal, Initiated Act 1 (PDF link), called The Arkansas Adoption and Foster Care Act, bans adoption and foster care by families where parents are unmarried. And, while its primary target is obviously cohabiting gay and lesbian couples, it also affects straight couples who are unmarried.
Mike Huckabee, while governor of Arkansas, had issued a directive to similar effect, banning unmarried couples from adopting/fostering as a roundabout way of banning gay and lesbian couples from doing the same (as they cannot legally marry in Arkansas, a state that, since 2004, has defined marriage as between one man and one woman–another of FCAC’s political success stories).
That both these measures are driven by a potent mix of fundamentalist religion, ignorance, meanness, and outright stupidity is only too obvious. Though groups like FCAC do their best to monger fears about gay and lesbian couples as parents, the scientific consensus is that children of gay and lesbian parents are no worse off than those of heterosexual parents. FCAC and their ilk feed on unfounded fears that gay and lesbian people are more likely to molest children than heterosexual people are.
If FCAC’s banning agenda were based on evidence rather than irrational fears, perhaps they should have considered banning adoption by families where one or more of the parents smoke cigarettes. Their children are three times more likely to develop lung cancer. They’re also twice as likely to take up the habit themselves. Banning smokers from adopting and fostering at least has some documented health benefits for the children.
But, thanks to these “defenders” of the (married, heterosexual) family, many the 3,700 some odd children currently vying for placement in homes can continue to sit on their hands in the system, as FCAC, with the support of Arkansas voters, has made it harder for them to find a placement.
Wheat, as a former foster child I find this kind of legislative agenda extremely troubling. As I now reside in Colorado Springs, I’ve seen first hand the biogtry perpetrated by Focus on the Family in the name of the promotion of traditional values. Sadly, FoF spends millions of dollars defending the “institution of marriage”, when in reality such an institution doesn’t exist. Marriage is a contract between two individuals, and as such has no place being sanctioned by any government institution. Even the concept of marriage licenses is in fact and intrusion on the privacy and civil right of Americans. Remove the government from the concept of marriage entirely, and not only would such legislative measures as Act I become moot, they would be entirely unlawful at their premise.
I find it ironic that conservatives, while espousing the tenets of small government and individual freedoms, can’t bare to keep themselves from intruding into peoples lives when it comes to issues of sexual preference and procreation. There’s a popular bumper sticker in this city, it says simply “Focus on Your Own Damn Family.”
Tony makes an important point in that small-government fan conservatives are exactly NOT that when it comes to many issues. I would only add that both liberals and conservatives LOVE to talk about freedom when it suits them, but neither stick to a consistent philosophy regarding mans’ right to govern his own life. I’ve been asking both sides for may years a simple question I can’t get a straight answer to – “Am I too stupid or too immoral to run my own life without your interference via Big Brother? Which is it?”
Though I’m a Christian, I have a big problem with the attack on homosexuals a certain portion of believers (FoF types) think is so critical to our survival as a nation. WTF? Two guys doing whatever the heck their doing has nothing to do with the health of my marriage, and Christians get divorced at similar rates as everyone else. Shouldn’t we be concerned with making our own marriages stronger rather than wasting time with this bs?
By the way, the consistent, freedom-protecting view of same-sex marriages is for government not to care and to back off. Marriage to the state is a legal agreement, nothing more. Backing off also means that Big Brother doesn’t force privately held companies to recognize such a union and extend benefits if the ownership of that company objects. The sheer lack of good workers would probably convince most companies to not pass on a good employee regardless of their personal preferences.
BTW, the ACLU yesterday filed a lawsuit challenging this act.
Good. I knew they had plans to challenge these. I’m glad they included Arkansas in their suit. Here’s an AP piece on it: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7iadH82keTlCIw5xZg9NvT6SzvAD95D9IB00