By Gudrun Schultz
UNITED STATES, February 23, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) –Efforts to prevent gay adoption are moving into the center of the U.S. political scene, in what has been described as a “second front ” in the country’s culture wars.
A significant number of states are working to introduce legislation banning gay adoption, or to amend existing laws. In at least 16 states, laws or the promise of legislation prohibiting adoption by gay or lesbian couples are prominent in the political landscape, with the question set to become a campaign issue for the next federal election.
For the states of Georgia, Kentucky and Ohio, laws preventing the adoption of children by gays or lesbians are a logical progression from recently passed constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.
“Now that we’ve defined what marriage is, we need to take that further and say children deserve to be in that relationship,” Greg Quinlan of Ohio’s Pro-Family Network, a conservative Christian group, said to USAToday.
Ohio introduced a bill this month that would ban gays and lesbians from adopting or raising foster children.
In Massachusetts, Roman Catholic bishops are asking for an exemption from state anti-bias laws that would force them to allow gay adoptions through church-run social service agencies.
Florida has held firm to the 1977 state law against adoption by gays or lesbians, despite heavy lobbying to change it. However, a pending bill would allow judges to grant exceptions to that law.
Mississippi has banned adoption by gay couples, but allows gay singles to adopt. Utah has dealt with the question by refusing adoption to all unmarried couples.