LGBT Parents are Not a Threat to their Adopted Children
Published July 01, 2009 @ 01:36PM PT

The radical right in this country certainly does like to scapegoat LGBT parents whenever some sort of controversy comes up. Case in point, a story out of Durham, North Carolina where a very, very troubled individual, Frank Lombard, was arrested for inviting another man to travel to North Carolina in order to molest his adopted 5-year-old son. Change.org's excellent Human Trafficking blogger, Amanda Kloer, has more on the case here.
The right-wing in this country, led by Christian News Wire and the Grassroots Network of the Republican Party of Virginia (RPV Network), are seeking to take this case and use it as a means of bashing gay adoption. Because, you see, the parent in question happened to be gay. Already, here's what folks with those two groups have had to say about the Lombard case:
RPV Network: The question remains whether this pattern of child sexual abuse and male homosexuals will be seen as a validation of some studies which suggest that homosexual men are more than 40 times more likely than the general population to molest.
Christian News Wire: (With the headline, no less, of: "Lombard Demonstrates Why Gays Should Not be Allowed to Adopt") The on-line rape of his 5-year-old adopted son by Duke University's openly-gay, Frank Lombard, is no anomaly. Instead, Lombard's molestation fits the pattern that emerged in the latest review of the...literature about gay fathers.
It's downright disgusting that these right-wing organizations are seeking to turn this tragic case into a referendum on LGBT adoption. Leave it to the right-wing in this country to turn exploitation into...well, more exploitation.
Frank Lombard's case is tragic. His actions are disgusting (if they are true), as very few things are more repugnant than child molestation and human trafficking. But this is not a case about gay adoption. This is a case about a disturbed man failing on every level as a parent.
To make this a case about LGBT adoption, like Christian News Wire and the social networking site of the Republican Party of Virginia are doing, is a grotesque move of political theater. It would be like saying, "Because Governor Mark Sanford cheated on his wife, conservative Christians shouldn't be allowed to get married." (Or travel to Argentina...or whatever absurd comment you want to put here.)
Every mainstream scientific study out there asserts that LGBT people are extremely well qualified to be parents, and every mainstream study demonstrates that children who grow up in LGBT homes are just as balanced as children who grow up in straight homes.
That's important to remember, especially as radical conservative groups in this country seek to spin the Lombard case into a debate over gay adoption.
(Photo courtesy of (addict2pics)'s photostream on Flickr!)
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Comments (16)
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The intolerant conservative organizations, including the RPV Network and the Christian News Wire are stating what is nonsense for their unfortunate purpose of oppression. The organizations must not be taken as a legitimate source of information, thus the mainstream scientific findings trump the intolerance of those organizations. It's unfortunate that the troubled man invited another man to molest his boy, however LGBT adoption must expand.
Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 07/01/2009 @ 03:33PM PT
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I thinks its disgusting when people assume that if you are gay you like children as well! THat has nothing to do with being gay that has to do with a sick perversion! I realize some people view being gay as a perversion,But sexual relations between to of age and consenting indeviduals is completely different than an adult praying on a young child!
Posted by alyssa dockter on 07/01/2009 @ 03:36PM PT
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There are plenty of straight people that molest, and rape their own BIOLOGICAL and adopted children too.
Those radical groups should be ashamed of themselves for trying to make ALL homosexuals seem like child abusers. That's really disgustng and is just so prejudice.
Posted by Trang Christine Ta on 07/01/2009 @ 05:02PM PT
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The right wing will do anything to distract the country from that serial adulterer, Gov. Mark Sanford. He's an example of what's morally wrong in this country, not gay adoption. They really need to stop being so hypocritical, and focus on real problems.
Posted by gilbert barrett on 07/01/2009 @ 05:53PM PT
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I love all humanity I am a sinner as every human being on earth is, yet follow Jesus Christ as my lord and savior. He wants us to love God with all our hearts minds and soul + love our neighbor as we would love ourselves. The norm is a man and a women who can make another human being. Homosexuality is a sin so I will not partake in that activity but will judge no person as this is the job of God. Our society is dieing we are not having enough babies to keep even, so our society is going to get smaller and smaller. Just think we could all become homosexuals and then we would disappear from earth like the Dodo bird. I do not see anything wrong with this at all. I love all people with Agape love which is brotherly love to all, God bless all.
Posted by Mark Smith on 07/01/2009 @ 08:13PM PT
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For offense Mark but do you really believe that this world needs more starving mouths to feed? This world is already vastly overpopulated; any one who knows how to use google to search can find that out. This is not an article about popping out babies at record rates. This article is about idiots trying to paint all LGBT as pedophiles; which is completely contrary to the evidence of tens of thousands of sociologist, social workers, psychologist, child psychologist and pediatricians.
This is about assholes trying to force their immoral views on other families and strip their children of their loving parents and place them with a brainwashed bigoted zealot who will psychologically traumatize them with their religious bullshit of hellfire and damnation unless they conform.
And this is about the millions of LGBT families in the US who have to suffer discrimination and dehumanization from every angle because people are too stupid to know when someone is feeding them bullshit and propaganda; instead of listening to the scientist. You know scientist... the people that actually know what the hell they are talking about, because they spent their entire lives researching that topic?
I dont care what delusion you prescribe yourself too but dont call something you know nothing about a sin. If homosexuality is a sin then so is heterosexuality, because sexual orientation is different in all human beings, and since gays and straights exhibit the same paternal, maternal, and affection for their spouses, partners, and/or children; to call one a sin is to say the other is as well.
For over 40 years every scientist who studies or who has studied the mind has said there is no difference between Gays and Straights. That sexual orientation does not make a persons personality or lifestyle. That it is natural, normal, and that same sex relationships are the vanguard of what heterosexual relationships could be.
Why is it so hard for "you people" to grasp that very simple concept? We love the same, we parent the same, we get married the same, some even worship the same and we grow old just the same as you. Why is it so hard for you people to get that through to your head?
Posted by Chris Marshall on 07/02/2009 @ 10:15AM PT
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Mr. smith...If your against homosexuality then what the fuck are you doing here ?
Other than being a fundietard, I mean.
Posted by Thomas McHugh on 07/03/2009 @ 05:09PM PT
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I'm with You on the opinion that it is disgusting to think someone is a pedophile just because HE/She is gay. I am pretty darn confused though Why that's only a problem for the right wingers Who think that way. I've met more leftie bigots on this subject than the reverse. (Living in Mass. i meet more lefties anyway) The lefties are more vile in their opinions about it too.
Posted by Charlie Reed on 07/02/2009 @ 04:20AM PT
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Yep...It is sad indeed that the bible thumpers aint got any sense to know better than to be telling lies and spreading misinformation...The irony being that their own bible tells them NOT to be doing it...But they do it anyways.
Whats also ironic is that they KNOW theyre lying so you would think that both logic and common sense would tell them that if they gotta lie then they must be in the wrong...But then, I reckon that one of the prerequisites of being a bible thumper is to forgo logic and common sense.
Posted by Thomas McHugh on 07/03/2009 @ 05:15PM PT
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The only thing that fundies seem to be good at are lies. From the "ex-gay" BS to lies that adoptive gay parents are a danger to their kids...all lies. Guess the truth has yet to make them free, eh?
And why the hell are all these fundies on the gay rights forum anyhow?
Posted by Ioan Lightoller on 07/05/2009 @ 02:43AM PT
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Exactly what is a fundie guys? And Who are You accusing of being a liar? Sorry for being so clueless, I don't get out much. At first I thought it might be Me but I never quote the bible, and am quite vehement in My defense of gay rights. (paranoia I guess)
Posted by Charlie Reed on 07/05/2009 @ 05:21AM PT
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OK, now that I have had a little coffee and gone back to read the other comments, I realize I was being paranoid. Still what is a "fundie" And please stop singling out right wingers. The ones I hang out with are on Your side, and are actually a bit perplexed (if not angry) as to Why We are picked on when We know lefties Who are quite vehemently against gay adoption.
Posted by Charlie Reed on 07/05/2009 @ 05:46AM PT
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Dear Charlie,
A fundie is a fundamentalist zealot, bigot, or some kind of religious ingrate that believes their immoral ethical and philosophical values are far more important than anyone else's lives or constitutional rights. Fundamentalist zealots were the reasons why African Americans were enslaved and millions of people were killed for being witches and heretics unto their god. Fundamentalist bigots believed it was moral to continue to fight for slavery and against integration. Granted may religious people opposed slavery as well as church leaders, their voices were muted out by the wealth of the minority of extensively wealthy bigots.
How ironic that the same exact thing is happening today. Many churches and religious people support same sex marriage and full integration of LGBT people, but the minority of wealthy bigots strip everyone of their voices and of their rights. As a friend reminds me "In fascist america bullshit and money fucks you."
There is no harm in allowing gay people to be seen as normal, there is no cure for an illness that does not exist, and there is no moral or ethical reason that denying LGBT people and families their full equal rights will in any way help society.
This rolls into a question of why LGBT people instantly call those that don't believe they deserve full equality bigots? Well the answer to that is quite simple. If someone told you that you dont deserve to have the same rights and privileges as your neighbors, family members and friends, yet you are no different than them in every way; then it is quite apparent that telling such normal and equal people "no" is very damning and dehumanizing to them. You are basically telling them, "you are not human," "you are sick," "you are evil," etc... just because they love someone of the same sex as equally as someone of a different sexual orientation loves someone of the opposite sex. What kind of world do we live in that condemns love and condones senseless acts of violence. Welcome to fundie world kids where you are dehumanized and slaughtered for love and worshiped for hate and genocide.
To add fuel to the fire such people (the bigots) create complete fabrication which are highly immoral and felonious. "LGBT people indoctrinate children to change their sexual orientation to fit them so they can exploit them for sex and other deviant acts." Such false bold face lies still continue to be seen as true, where the real answers from science are only seen as "opinions from quacks" or "anti-god rhetoric." These people, these bigots are far from any moral or ethical high road. Their actions and language speak volumes of their immorality, their insecurity, and their willingness to commit hannis acts of violence against innocent human beings.
This is what reality really says, not just the science about LGBT and their relationships. Introducing Dr. Gottman and his wife, Julie Schwartz Gottman, Ph.D. Together they have conducted relationship research, therapy, and education at the Gottman Institute in Seattle,Washington. They have studied same-gender couples for over twelve years and heterosexual couples for over thirty years and are renowned across the world for their work.
"Gay and lesbian relationships are the vanguard of how heterosexual relationships could be. heterosexual couples have a lot to learn from gay couples. Same-sex couples tend to be more positive than straight couples during conflict
and tend to use more affection and humor when discussing difficult subjects. They tend to use fewer controlling and hostile emotional tactics during a fight, and fairness and power-sharing between partners appears to be more common in gay and lesbian relationships than in straight ones."
Gottman has also stated this multiple times:
"Gay and lesbian relationships are the vanguard of how heterosexual relationships may be in 200 years once we get past the (crap) about male power and entitlement"
This isnt just Dr. Gottman who says these things but every medical and mental health science organization across the globe that says the exact same things. So when people reject reality or refuse to even consider the slightest implication that they might be wrong they are bigots. If they believe that LGBT people are people, but dont deserve the same rights as heterosexuals they are still bigots. (yes that means Obama is a bigot as well)
You cant go around saying you support equal rights for all when you only support them for certain groups or only certain rights for those groups. You cant pick and choose when it comes to equality. Either you are all in or you are completely out. Second class status is not equal and neither is partial equality. So if you dont believe in full integration of LGBT people to be seen as normal, loving, nurturing, committed, and faithful human beings then yes Charlie you are a bigot against LGBT people. If you believe in full equality for us then you are not but only on the issue of LGBT people. You could be a bigot in other areas or not a bigot at all.
However, if you question LGBT about the validity of their lives let me leave you with a quote of my experiences.
"No one should have to explain or validate their lives to give those lives meaning, to be treated with equal dignity and respect, and to have the exact same basic human rights and freedoms as everyone else."
I hope this is helpful to you and to any other person on this blog.
Sincerely
Chris Marshall
PS. If you want to have some real information about homosexuality please read these packets from Jeff Lutes and Dr. Rev Mel White.
http://www.soulforce.org/pdf/whatthesciencesays.pdf
http://www.soulforce.org/pdf/false_focus.pdf
http://www.soulforce.org/pdf/whatthebiblesays.pdf
http://www.apa.org/topics/sorientation.html
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts.html
Posted by Chris Marshall on 07/05/2009 @ 09:59AM PT
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Thank you Chris, as I said in My private message, that makes some previous comments make more sense. As You know I believe in human rights. All humans are equal, period. there should be no need for a gay rights movement, or a womens' rights movement, or any othe division of the human race, in an ideal world. This not an ideal world, so until it is, count Me in in this struggle. It is for equal rights for all of Homo Sapiens. We are all on the same ship! I do still do not have an answer though Why this piece and others (including the comments) attack rightie bigots but let the leftie bigots off without a mention!
Posted by Charlie Reed on 07/05/2009 @ 10:25PM PT
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Mark Smith started the debate with his bullshit and that got me quite hot under the collar, because they profess opinions as facts, and real facts as mear anti-christian opinions. More so it is aggravating because if you take the word "homosexual/ity" out of our their language and replace it with "blacks/Negros/colored" you get the exact same rhetoric they used to denigrate the African American community less than 50 years ago. You think people would wake up and realize they are repeating an ugly history.
As I have said to many people. It is very hard to be a bigot against lies, misinformation and hatred. Tolerance of intolerance is intolerance. It is a system that allows intolerance to fester and boil over on the to hands of freedom and capitalism. It scolds America's founding principles and the core democratic values; and it undermines our Constitution and the federal supreme courts role in protecting the soundness of the constitution when applied to disenfranchised minorities and anti-American laws that hurt the common people.
These fundies abuse our freedoms to such a point that people of good will, with reason and logic, feel it is necessary to suppress the freedom of speech to protect the lives of others. This is a terrible outcome but if the fundies and bigots don't stop their barrage of anti-LGBT rhetoric and lies, it might be a necessity for a short period of time in order to protect the lives of the young who are often the targets of such rhetoric and violence.
It's pathetic to even think this way but that is what happens when people abuse the freedoms you endowed them to have. The freedom of speech was enabled so people could speak out against intolerant governments and expose them for what they are. It gave them the right to speak their mind... however those freedoms created mindsets that slavery and segregation were just causes, that slaughtering millions of Native Americans was a just cause, that Women are below men and did not deserve the "privilege" to vote, and now; Gay people are degenerates, pedophiles, and sick, and if they are given their rights then the whole world will fall apart.
People can be stupid animals. Believing without evidence or proof, just because a speaker has a good approach. If we continue to allow the fundies and bigots run amok we will certainly lose not a few but all of our freedoms in due time. It's time people start realizing that freedom of religion also means freedom from religion.
Posted by Chris Marshall on 07/08/2009 @ 06:47AM PT
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http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2437/3764031357_bd9fbb9b23.jpg
Posted by Victoria Reich on 07/29/2009 @ 07:37PM PT
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