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Bucky

(53,805 posts)
Wed Apr 17, 2013, 09:09 AM Apr 2013

WaMo: How gays won the right to raise children without conservatives even noticing

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/may_june_2013/features/under_the_gaydar043855.php

[font size="4"]How gays won the right to raise children without conservatives even noticing[/font]

Although progress has been unusually swift, this story of same-sex marriage rights has followed a familiar path, one blazed by women and African Americans in their struggles for equality. Members of an out-group, advocating for their rights, demand a fundamental change in the legal interpretation of the constitution, which causes a series of high-profile court cases, state and federal laws and counter-laws, and all of it accompanied by a broadly-held national conversation that leads to a change in public attitudes, laws and legal interpretations.

But this isn’t the only way that civil rights advance. A few decades ago, openly gay and lesbian Americans did not have the legal right to raise their own biological children, much less adopt. Today, more than 25 states recognize the same legal benefits and responsibilities of parenthood regardless of sexual orientation. It is now routine for gays and lesbians to jointly adopt, to be recognized as co-parents, and to collect child support or demand custody or visitation rights—even without a biological connection to the child in question. All this has happened without the hallmarks of a traditional rights campaign. There were very few high-profile court cases, few legislative battles, and little public debate. In sharp contrast to marriage equality—where between 1993 and 2003 two pro-marriage rulings incited over 35 state bans—parenting litigation has provoked minimal public backlash.


Actually, I don't think it's too hard to figure out. Despite what they say, conservatives don't care a flip about how families are doing. What they care about is minding somebody else's sex life.
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