They’re calling House Bill 1330 the gay couple adoption bill. The “they” doing the labeling are anti-gay forces in the state who think that gay people should not bear, raise or adopt children.
But in actuality the bill, which will likely be voted on by the Colorado House this week – and is likely to pass both chambers of the legislature and be signed into law by Gov. Bill Ritter – will help a wide swath of people who wish to become adoptive parents to children they are helping raise.
The bill would give legal status to grandparents, siblings, other relatives, common-law spouses and co-habitating couples. It would also allow the same-sex partner of a gay person to adopt his or her partner’s child, just as it should.
Under current state law, gay individuals can adopt a child but their partner can’t co-adopt. But the same is true for heterosexual couples who aren’t married.
We need to think about how this could affect the children they’re raising.
What happens if the adoptive parent loses health insurance? That child can’t get coverage under his second parent’s policy because he or she isn’t legally recognized as a parent.
Or what if the adoptive parent dies?
Thousands of children are affected by our outdated state law. Yet, in a homophobic society where gay people are demonized by religious zealots, bigots refer to this legislation as the “gay adoption bill,” hoping to stigmatize it.
It’s not just about gay couples, but if the bill didn’t include gay people it would be yet another law that discriminates against gays.
If these groups are truly concerned about children, they should think about the consequences these laws have on children caught in the middle.
Of course, the zealots have a convenient answer for that: Gay people shouldn’t be parents.
But just because bigots would like everyone to conform to their way of living doesn’t mean that any person – gay or straight, married or unmarried – should be denied the wonders of being a parent.
Or, look at this way: Should children who were abandoned or neglected and have been waiting years for someone to adopt them be denied an adoptive parent just because the willing adoptees aren’t a heterosexual couple?
“Focus on the Family is making incredible judgments on people, that children of homosexual couples do not deserve an economically stable environment,” said Alice Madden, D-Boulder, the House majority leader who is sponsoring the House bill. (On the Senate side, Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, is the sponsor.)
Of course, you see how the controversial part of this bill – allowing the partner of a gay adoptive parent to become the second adoptive parent – can take over the whole discussion, as though the bill benefits no one else.
Truth is, it will help all sorts of people, including teen mothers who struggle to raise children on their own. Those who are against abortion need to help tear down the barriers to supportive care for moms who keep their babies.
As it stands, if a teen mom is living with her parents and isn’t working, her parents can’t put the baby on their health insurance. The mother would have to give up her parental rights and allow the grandparents to adopt the baby for the child to have coverage.
Either that, or the teen mom has to live on her own and go on welfare to get herself and her baby on Medicaid, which separates her from her family and creates a burden on “the system.”
Yes, it would have been better if she had remained a virgin and didn’t get pregnant – yadda, yadda, yadda. The “could’ve, should’ve, would’ve” refrain from the zealots is annoying, especially because they don’t want contraception to be discussed in sex ed classes.
But when the baby is reality we need to find ways to help ensure that those babies have financially secure households. Besides, no matter who that second parent is – grandma, an auntie, or a lesbian – having two parents is almost always better than having one.
Cindy Rodríguez’s column appears Tuesdays and Sundays. Read Cindy’s blog at denverpostbloghouse.com/rodriguez.
Leave a voice message at 303-954-1211 or e-mail her at crodriguez@denverpost.com
