Tennessee State Senate Bill Would Restrict Adoption Rights
On January 29, state Senator Paul Stanley (R – District 31) introduced Senate Bill 0078 to the Tennessee General Assembly. If passed, this measure would allow only married, heterosexual couples to adopt children:
The Tennessee Constitution provides that “the historical institution and legal contract solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman shall be the only legally recognized marital contract in this state.”
This bill prohibits certain individuals from adopting a minor child. Under this bill, any individual who is living with another person and is involved in a sexual relationship with that person (“cohabitating”) outside of a marriage that is valid under the constitution would not be allowed to adopt a minor child. This bill states that it would apply to cohabitating opposite-sex and same-sex individuals.
[From the Tennessee General Assembly's summary of the bill. Full text of the bill available here (Adobe PDF).]
How nice of Senator Stanley to note that he’s not looking to discriminate solely against homosexual couples.
With divorce rates in Tennessee fifty percent notably higher than the national average, I submit that the “traditional” marriage isn’t exactly the touchstone of familial stability some would like us to think it is. We need to be finding more ways to get orphaned, abandoned, and abused children into permanent and loving families, not fewer.
June 22nd, 2009 at 11:39 am
This is despicable. Tennesseeans are already known as narrow-minded, homophobic, bigots and now it seems some of them want to really live up to that. Come on people, you disagree with homosexuality (which is really what this is ALL about) so you resort to keeping orphans as…orphans??
Makes no sense.
July 13th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
We are afraid that the adopted children will model after their children and choose the homosexual lifestyle for themselves. You see. I was down at the ice-cream store the other (it was real hot), and I ran into a real conundrum: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. On that particular day, they all seemed about the same, so I had to make a choice. Strawberry.
Well, I walked on down the street a ways from the ice-cream store, and I felt my sap arisen. Right there on a park bench sat one of the prettiest men I ever saw and one of the prettiest women I ever saw. Well, it was just like the ice-cream, I had to make a choice. Do I hit on that pretty man, or do I hit on that pretty woman. The sap readings were about the same, so it was all just a simple choice. I chose the woman because she was just a little bit more exciting than the man—but no much. So you see, from where I sit, it is a matter of simple choice. I figure if it’s like that for me, a pretty regular guy, it must be exactly the same equation of feelings, beauty, and choice for all other men. Right?
July 24th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Senator Stanley, is that you?