Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people--the GLBT or gay community--have adopted children throughout history. In the past, the public perception of gay adoptive parents often was that they were childless single people raising orphans. In the 20th century, same-sex couples and single gay people began fighting for official adoption and foster care rights.
Gay Adoption History
Gay people have adopted children for many centuries. Childless Emperor Hadrian, one of several gay Roman rulers, adopted younger men as heirs to the throne. After the Roman empire disintegrated in 476 A.D., adoptions vanished from most European legal codes. Pre-modern Christian civilizations focused on biological families, and adoptions became informal arrangements. Gays continued to adopt through informal arrangements, but they usually concealed their sexuality because of anti-gay laws. Victorian-era gays hid behind labels such as "bachelors" and "spinsters." Gay relationships were disguised as "romantic friendships." For example, Canadian novelist Mazo de la Roche, who was born in 1879, formed a lifelong hidden relationship with her cousin, Caroline Clement. The couple adopted two orphaned children of close friends in 1931.
Modern Adoption Demands
While European gay activism began in 1867, under the pioneering leadership of German lawyer Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, the American gay community did not begin public activism until the 1950s. The American gay community first focused on getting rid of anti-gay laws; demands for legalization of gay marriage, the right to retain custody of biological children and the right to adopt children emerged after 1970.
State Law Status
An 2008 online essay prepared by the Utah branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, "Overview of Lesbian and Gay Parenting, Adoption and Foster Care," describes the current status of gay adoption rights. Most states now allow gay adoptions. Only Florida, Nebraska, Utah, Mississippi and Arkansas still have laws or administrative policies that officially deny adoption rights to gays. Twenty-one states allow second-parent adoptions, so that biological or adoptive children of one partner in a same-sex relationship can be legally adopted by their parent's partner.
Opposition Continues
The dramatic shift in the legal climate for gays seeking to adopt children does not mean that opposition to gay adoption rights has ended. The American Civil Liberties Union national office has an "LGBT Rights: Parenting" web page containing continuously updated reports on court battles and state ballot initiatives attempting to revoke gay adoption rights.
Persisting Discrimination
According to an Urban Institute report, "Adoption and Foster Care by Gay and Lesbian Parents in the United States," gays are adopting larger numbers of foreign born infants than heterosexuals are. In "Marriages and Families," Mary Ann Lamanna, a University of Nebraska sociology professor, and her co-authors suggest that gays are adopting more older children, disabled children and children belonging to racial minorities because gays are not offered as many healthy American infants as heterosexuals are. The Urban Institute report notes that even in states where there are no official legal barriers to gays adopting children, covert discrimination against gay couples continues within some adoption agencies.
References
- American Civil Liberties Union of Utah: Overview of Lesbian and Gay Parenting, Adoption and Foster Care
- The Urban Institute: Adoption and Foster Care by Gay and Lesbian Parents in the United States
- American Civil Liberties Union: LGBT Rights: Parenting
- Time: The Fight Over Gay Adoption Heats Up; Michael A. Lindenberger; 2008
