Upholding the Ideal Family for Children: A Mother and a Father
Homosexual marriage has emerged as one of the most controversial public policy issues of the day. Understanding the issues surrounding homosexual adoption would help policymakers more wisely resolve the question of homosexual marriage because the government’s primary interest in promoting marriage as an institution resides in its capability to produce and raise children. As scholar Richard Wilkins argues, “The very concept of marriage is indissolubly linked to the societal imperatives of procreation and child rearing. As the Supreme Court has recognized, procreation involves the ’very existence and survival of mankind.’ Laws protecting and preferring heterosexual marriage are a principled and necessary means of furthering this most imperative of all governmental objectives” (1992). As some contest that homosexual marriage could produce the benefit of raising children through adoption, homosexual adoption is a crucial question in the debate over same-sex marriage. If homosexuals were given a right to marry, it would logically follow that they should be able to legally adopt children, as raising children is one of the primary functions of marriage.
The issue of homosexual adoption can be analyzed through a variety of frameworks that are commonly used to analyze public policies, including utilitarian calculations, rights, equality, societal norms and values, and pragmatism. These frameworks raise a significant number of issues such as, how homosexual parenting compares to heterosexual parenting, whether homosexuals have a right to raise children and how this compares to the right of children to have a mother and father, and whether homosexuality is behavioral rather than an innate and immutable trait. Overall, these frameworks indicate that governments should promote placing children in traditional families at all costs, as research overwhelmingly shows that the traditional family provides the best environment and opportunities for children to achieve optimal development.
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