My suspicions are usually aroused by laws supporters say are supposed to “protect traditional families.” Traditional families almost always don’t need the protections being described, which means the edict, law or ruling at hand is in fact aimed at a different group. In a case set for trial in Florida, in fact, a 9-year-old boy named Oscar Williams is the one who needs to have his family - nontraditional as it is - protected and legalized.

Oscar has learning disabilities and other health problems, but he has come a long way toward tackling those since Doug Houghton came into the picture. A nurse practitioner, Houghton met the young boy at a health clinic, befriended him and became his legal guardian. Now he wants to adopt him. The boy’s family says they support the adoption.

Trouble is, it’s against Florida law. Houghton’s gay. The law is a throwback to the controversial campaign of former Miss America Anita Bryant and her campaign against gays in the Sunshine State in the 1970s. Critics call it the toughest anti-homosexual adoption measure in the country.

The case is headed for trial in federal court in Key West sometime this summer, and its outcome will almost certainly influence similar cases and similar laws throughout the country.

My problem is that the law does nothing to help children who need a home. In fact, in this case it could certainly harm little Oscar, who right now can’t be adopted by the man he calls “Dad.” All it does is say that there are many in our society - obviously a majority in Florida - who somehow think being homosexual is the same as being immoral, unethical, dishonorable, dishonest and just flat-out bad. That is preposterous.

The job of raising children is as complex as anything we can take on in life. Believe me, I’ve made enough mistakes to know how hard it is. It requires a host of talents and skills that many of us simply don’t possess.

And the truth is I have seen many heterosexual parents who had no business having children, but our laws make it immensely difficult to take children away from their biological parents. Social Service agencies work long hours trying to keep biological families together, often, in my opinion, to the detriment of the children involved. But that is how our society has evolved.

How come, though, we can’t see that someone’s sexual preference really has no bearing on their ability to raise a child. If a homosexual had a long criminal record or was some kind of sexual deviant with a history of arrests for solicitation, then it would be understandable. But 99 percent of us - heteros and homos - keep our sexual lives to ourselves. Gays, contrary to what some seem to think, do not spend their lives trying to foist their sexual preferences on unsuspecting children.

Traditionalists, in addition to the biblical charges that homosexuality is immoral, also argue that it is not biologically natural for gays to have children. They are right. But we humans don’t live in some unaltered state of nature. We have moved beyond that because we have a soul and the ability to think rationally. We have also created a society where thousands of children have been abandoned or born to drug addicts, something that also doesn’t happen in nature.

One of the attorneys representing Houghton put it pretty succinctly: “This statute was enacted out of animosity toward lesbians and gays, not out of any basis in child welfare,” said Leslie Cooper.

Many spend a lot of time trying to equate tolerance of different lifestyles with relaxed moral standards and a society slouching toward chaos. By that argument, one becomes somehow less moral by accepting the fact that some people are homosexuals and will be no matter what kinds of barriers or laws society tries to throw up.

Morality, though, is more about honesty and honor than someone’s sexual preference. And parenting has a lot to do with love, not some legislative edict that tries to fit all adoption law into an arcane view of society that is naive and untrue.

In this case, no one is going to convince me this young boy will be worse off when he is adopted by a loving, caring, supporting father figure who happens to be gay.

(Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com)

 

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