Shameful
Ryan Thibodaux of The Higher Pie noted on Friday that Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bill to prohibit gay and lesbian citizens from becoming foster parents, or from permanently adopting. Period. No exceptions. "Why," you ask?
Because of the way they "do it" in private. No, I'm not kidding. Just look at the specific language in the bill:
(B) An individual may not adopt if the court in which the petition for adoption is filed determines that any of the following apply:
And today, I'm ashamed to have ever set foot there. Sorry, Mom, but as of now I must officially renounce the land of my boyhood home, and never again speak its name. The rest of the nation should follow suit, and feel mortally embarrassed that such a state of mind could exist in 21st Century America.
Without even a pretext of statistical evidence supporting this open bigotry toward the gay community, The Adoptive and Foster Children's Protection Act, as it is pejoratively titled, is an unacceptable affront to the very fundamentals of our democracy. If anything, Ohio's child abuse statistics show that children need to be protected from heterosexual parents and guardians. This is legislated homophobia at its worst - and as a nation we should be collectively outraged.
Imagine for a moment that this law placed the same arbitrary and absolute restrictions on African-Americans. On non-Christians. On straight couples whose weight exceeds a combined 350 pounds. On Democrats. Would we sit silently by and accept such a thing? Or would we raise a cry of protest that would force federal intervention on the side of justice and equality?
"Absurd," you say? "Couldn't happen," you contend? Why? Looks like we're but a stone's throw away.
The singling out of homosexuals for unwarranted separation and restriction is based on nothing more than irrational bias against a common, human characteristic that's just a natural part of the diversity of mankind - and, I might add, nobody's goddamn business. The private sexual behavior of consenting adults is no more a gauge of parental qualification (or disqualification) than skin color, or religion, or weight, or political affiliation.
Yet, while we would storm the halls of government en masse if those other deplorable examples were even contemplated, an inexcusably large percentage of our population sees nothing wrong with that same ghettoization of the gay community. Hang your heads, America.
From its "contribution" to the 2004 Presidential election, to its recent approval of a "Super" Patriot Act, to this reprehensibly overt prejudice against same-sex citizens, the Buckeye State seems Hell-bent on marching backward in time to the era of 1939 Berlin. Whether you're from Ohio or not, please make a noise to the Governor about this travesty, and let him know that this type of shameful bigotry and marginalization, for no reason other than a difference in sexual orientation, is not tolerable in the land of the free.
At least not the land I once knew.
Because of the way they "do it" in private. No, I'm not kidding. Just look at the specific language in the bill:
(B) An individual may not adopt if the court in which the petition for adoption is filed determines that any of the following apply:
(1) The individual is a homosexual, bisexual, or transgender individual.(C) As used in this section:
(2) The individual is a step-parent of the child to be adopted and is a homosexual, bisexual, or transgender individual.
(3) The individual resides with an individual who the court determines is a homosexual, bisexual, or transgender individual.
(1) "Bisexual" means an individual who engages in sexual activity with members of both sexes.You know, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was born and raised in Ohio. I took my first steps there, spoke my first words there. I received a fine public school and Liberal Arts education there. I still have family there.
(2) "Homosexual" means an individual who engages in sexual activity with another individual of the same sex.
(3) "Transgender" means an individual who may be classified according to an accepted nosology, such as the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, as having a gender identity disorder, or characterized by either of the following:
(a) A strong and persistent cross-gender identification;
(b) Persistent discomfort with that individual's sex or sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex.
And today, I'm ashamed to have ever set foot there. Sorry, Mom, but as of now I must officially renounce the land of my boyhood home, and never again speak its name. The rest of the nation should follow suit, and feel mortally embarrassed that such a state of mind could exist in 21st Century America.
Without even a pretext of statistical evidence supporting this open bigotry toward the gay community, The Adoptive and Foster Children's Protection Act, as it is pejoratively titled, is an unacceptable affront to the very fundamentals of our democracy. If anything, Ohio's child abuse statistics show that children need to be protected from heterosexual parents and guardians. This is legislated homophobia at its worst - and as a nation we should be collectively outraged.
Imagine for a moment that this law placed the same arbitrary and absolute restrictions on African-Americans. On non-Christians. On straight couples whose weight exceeds a combined 350 pounds. On Democrats. Would we sit silently by and accept such a thing? Or would we raise a cry of protest that would force federal intervention on the side of justice and equality?
"Absurd," you say? "Couldn't happen," you contend? Why? Looks like we're but a stone's throw away.
The singling out of homosexuals for unwarranted separation and restriction is based on nothing more than irrational bias against a common, human characteristic that's just a natural part of the diversity of mankind - and, I might add, nobody's goddamn business. The private sexual behavior of consenting adults is no more a gauge of parental qualification (or disqualification) than skin color, or religion, or weight, or political affiliation.
Yet, while we would storm the halls of government en masse if those other deplorable examples were even contemplated, an inexcusably large percentage of our population sees nothing wrong with that same ghettoization of the gay community. Hang your heads, America.
From its "contribution" to the 2004 Presidential election, to its recent approval of a "Super" Patriot Act, to this reprehensibly overt prejudice against same-sex citizens, the Buckeye State seems Hell-bent on marching backward in time to the era of 1939 Berlin. Whether you're from Ohio or not, please make a noise to the Governor about this travesty, and let him know that this type of shameful bigotry and marginalization, for no reason other than a difference in sexual orientation, is not tolerable in the land of the free.
At least not the land I once knew.
posted by Bob P @ 3:30 AM
1 Comments:
Bravo! You said it all.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home