The article in the Kalamazoo Gazette may have caused some confusion about my views on same sex adoption.
My position on same sex adoption:
• There should be a social and legal presumption that kids need a mom and a dad, preferably their own mom and dad. When that is not possible, society should try to replicate the natural family as closely as possible.
• The state absolutely should not place its wards with same sex couples. The government has no business conducting social experiments on the most vulnerable children in society.
• Private adoption agencies should not be required to place children with same sex couples.
• There is no “right to adopt” for anyone. Adoption exists to give children the parents they need, not to provide adults with the children they want.
• We don’t need to open up adoption to same sex couples because “there are so many children languishing in foster care.” There are plenty of American married couples who go to the ends of the earth (literally) to adopt children, many of whom are difficult to place, older children, sibling groups, special needs kids, and children of different races from the parents. The claim that we need to allow gay couples to adopt for the benefit of children is a red herring.
• Having said that, there are sometimes situations where the best parent for a particular child may be a relative who is gay. I wouldn’t prohibit that kind of placement, nor would I void a placement plan that biological parents make for their kids.
Obviously, allowing this exception is a long way from the generalized “right to adopt,” that the gay lobby seeks.