Arkansas, hear this!

We're not out of the woods yet, folks.  I've just read that bans on gay marriage in three states have been approved.

It's bad enough that people waste time and money on a prejudice that, for most of the developed world, is a non-issue. I have a hard time not being ugly right back with some choice words for said states. But I won't be ugly. I'll be calm and cool, like our new president.

I take refuge in facts. Maybe the Arkansas folks might also try figuring out what makes a marriage in the first place. According to a story by Margaret Talbot published recently in The New Yorker, "In 2004, the states with the highest divorce rates were Nevada, Arkansas, Wyoming, Idaho, and West Virginia...those with the lowest were Illinois, Massachusetts, Iowa, Minnesota, and New Jersey."

What's truly horrifying is Arkansas passed a measure to ban gays and lesbians from adopting or fostering children. As in, kids who need a home. Kids who are right now waiting for a home. Who might, particularly if the ban includes kids from overseas, need medical care, or solid nutrition. 

What about this report from, as far as I can tell, the evenhanded, non-political Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Instute:

"State policies should explicitly recognize foster parenting by gays and lesbians, and laws that inhibit or prohibit adoption by non-heterosexual individuals and couples (such as in Florida and Utah) should be rescinded; applicants should be judged on their qualifications, not their sexual orientation."

I will also make my own small and snotty protest: I won't ever, ever travel to Arkansas again, nor spend a dime on products made there if I can possibly help it, until you fix this. (That includes you, Arkansas e-Bayers.)  Those who disagree with the measure, protest in the streets. Start an education campaign. Write letters to newspapers. Make this right.

CORRECTION:  According to Jon Gambrell of The Associated Press, the measure bans unmarried couples from adopting, but was put across to voters as a "gay issue."  Further:

"Arkansas joins Utah, home to a large, conservative Mormon population, as the only states with bans against unmarried couples fostering or adopting children. Mississippi bans gay couples, but not single gays, from adopting children. Florida is the only state to completely ban gay adoption."

It's almost worse, because unmarried people may be twice penalized: Can't find Mr. or Ms. Right (or don't believe in wedlock, at least as a legal issue), can't get a kid. So, no more e-Bay stuff from those states, either.

~BurbMom

Photo: Que Hong Charity Center, Vietnam

Comments

[Linda]

As a lesbian in the San Francisco Bay Area, it is shocking that in this day and age, this kind of narrow and discriminatory thinking can prevail. The result of the vote on Prop 8 is absurd. That it's even put to a vote is absurd. And the adoption issue cuts on yet another level.

Here, in California, we also voted on a measure to ensure that animals such as chicken or livestock would have appropriately sized cages and be able to move around. This measure passed, and as a very good friend pointed out, people seem to care more about the rights of animals they eat than gays and lesbians.