Stop them before they care for more children no one else wants

June 17, 2006

Guest Post by Morbo

I’ve been saying for some time now that the ban on [tag]same-sex marriage[/tag] is just the beginning. Far-right fundamentalist Christians are determined to strip [tag]gay[/tag]s of as many rights as possible.

My prediction is being played out in Arkansas this week. The Arkansas Supreme Court is considering the state’s ban on [tag]foster parenting[/tag] by [tag]gays[/tag]. How did the ban get into place? The Associated Press explains:

Because the state has banned gay marriage, and its Child Welfare Agency Review Board bars unmarried couples who live together from becoming foster parents, gay couples cannot have [tag]foster children[/tag], said Kathy L. Hall, attorney for the Department of Health and Human Services.

This is, to be blunt, ridiculous. It’s not like people are lining up to be foster parents. It’s a tough job, and I hear it doesn’t pay very well. Obviously states need to establish reasonable criteria for foster parents (like no criminal convictions, a decent income and so on), but sexuality should not be among them. How a person has sex says nothing about that type of foster parent he or she will be.

Hall told the court that the state has a vested interest in the welfare of children. Fair enough. But what she said next makes no sense: “That can’t happen in a home where unmarried sex occurs.”

Now this is getting interesting. A standard like that might start affecting the rights of straight people.

This point was not lost on Justice Annabelle Clinton Imber, who noted that the state allows single heterosexual individuals to be foster parents. Imber asked Hall, “So you’re saying … the agency is also going to be asking a heterosexual how they behave in the bedroom?”

Somehow I doubt the agency will. I suspect the agency will just apply a double-standard.

I realize this is Arkansas, but will everyone please just grow up? Do people in [tag]Arkansas[/tag] really hate gays so much that they are willing to deny an entire class of individuals the right to be foster parents? If they do, they are hopelessly stupid because a policy like that does not help children in need.

I can’t help but wonder what is next. Let me suggest this to the religious right: To get a really good [tag]witch hunt[/tag] going, you need to go far beyond merely banning same-sex marriage. During the McCarthy era, suspected communists were hounded out of government jobs, the media and public schools. They were also driven out of Hollywood. So why not get to it?

I know driving gays out of Hollywood is probably a tall order, but if anyone up to it, it’s got to be the religious right. So hop to it, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Tony Perkins, Louis Sheldon, etc.

And while you’re at it, please do keep pressing for policies that deny neglected or abused children a loving care-giver. Do it — and try to explain with a straight face why it’s downright pro-family.

“If they do, they are hopelessly stupid”

Bingo.

  • I suspect avowed atheists and anyone in alternative lifestyles are discriminated against too. It’s part of a larger issue of intolerance.

  • Morbo, this action — by the state, no less — is grounded in not just ignorance, but stupidity. And as the old joke goes, stupid is permanent.

    While your attempt at sarcasm is quite good, it will be fruitless and futile: those at whom it is aimed are too damn stupid to understand the full extent of their hypocricy. Too bad, as there are so many abused, neglected, suffering and innocent children who need our help.

    Bastards. I cannot and never will understand how barring a certain class of people from carrying out Christ’s admonitions to care for “…these, the least of My Brethren…” and to “…love thy neighbor” is supposed to be furthering God’s plan for mankind on Earth.

    “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” Too bad that the American Taliban and their misguided sheep can preach the word, but have no idea of how to live it themselves. They can talk the talk, but cannot — or will not — walk the walk. Hypocrites, Pharasees, haters.

    Bastards.

  • The American Taliban functions on the principle of “Do As I Say, Not As I Do.” Keep pounding away at their hate until they are down—and then, keep pounding. Think of it as “the DeLay Theorum” applied in reverse….

  • hello from reading what you posted Thomas on the site .. i checked it out and to me those xtians religious right wing ppl are nothing but child molsteres that needs to be hanged on a cross upside down …

    cause if its wrong to be gay male or female and have a child .. then i think a law needs to be made some time in the near future every xtian religion right bigot needs to have their tubes tied cut and burnt and the males needs to get their BAlls cut off .. that should fix them ….

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