By Andrew L. Jaffee

The Islamists want to stone gays to death. But enlightened people recognize Islamism for the barbarian ideology it is. So I find it incomprehensible that anti-gay sentiments still exist in the U.S., one of the great bastions of civilization on Earth.

How many of you remember Mad Magazine’s “Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions?” Well, to counter an Ohio Republican Senator’s move to ban adoption of children by gays,

[Democratic] State Sen. Robert Hagan sent out e-mails to fellow lawmakers late Wednesday night, stating that he intends to “introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents.” The e-mail ended with a request for co-sponsorship.

…Hagan wrote in his mock proposal that “credible research” shows that adopted children raised in Republican households are more at risk for developing “emotional problems, social stigmas, inflated egos, and alarming lack of tolerance for others they deem different than themselves and an air of overconfidence to mask their insecurities.”

However, Hagan admitted that he has no scientific evidence to support the above claims.

Hagan’s move may be inflammatory, but no less ludicrous than the legislation he was responding to, which was:

…a bill introduced in the Ohio House this month by Rep. Ron Hood, R-Ashville, that is aimed at prohibiting gay adoption.

My girlfriend teaches in inner city schools. Many of her students have no parents, or parents with no concept of personal responsibility, or parents strung out on drugs, or all of the above — products of our failed welfare, do-gooder system. She has students who are crack babies that no one else wants. One of her students was adopted by a lesbian couple. This girl’s mother died when she was 9 years old, and since she had no family, floundered in the foster-care system for years. Now with the support of her new parents, this child has made great improvements in school.

These kids’ biggest debility is lack of guidance from a warn, loving home.

And some lawmakers are seeking to ban responsible gays from taking on one of the most difficult commitments known to humanity, namely parenting?

It is the 21st century. Have we not learned anything yet? Is the civil rights movement gone and forgotten? Is Ron Hood rejecting the openly gay members of his own party — the Log Cabin Republicans?

The ancient Greeks and Romans had no problem with homosexuality, yet they invented democracy, and rose to great scientific and cultural heights. Their societies eventually collapsed for many reasons, but certainly not because of the acceptance of gay relationships. Our Founding Fathers were educated men. They were well-read in Greek and Roman history, but didn’t enshrine homophobic sentiments into the beautiful texts that form the foundation for our great country (like the Federalist Papers).

There is a common American identity, but it is not based on gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. The Declaration of Independence so eloquently states,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

The Constitution starts with:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I don’t see anything about sexual orientation mentioned. How long has it been since Ron Hood read the Constitution? Gays are the least of our social worries — in fact, not a worry at all. And to disregard the fact that they responsibly participate in our great institutions — academia, government, business — is just myopic ignorance. How many of our friends, family, coworkers, etc., are gay? It is time to wake up and recognize that “all men are created equal.”

If you are interested in opposing this anti-gay adoption legislation, please visit:

http://eqfed.org/equalityohio/events/lobbyday06/details.tcl

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Related: Political Correctness, Society

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