Texas Moves to Ban Gay Foster Parents
The Texas house of representatives passed a bill on Wednesday banning homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals from being foster parents.
If the bill gains approval from the Texas senate, the state will be allowed to investigate the backgrounds of current foster parents and remove children living in non-heterosexual households.
All future foster parents will be required to disclose their sexual preference on an application form, a legislative aide said.
The move was denounced by local activists.
“More than 43,000 gay and lesbian couples in Texas are forming families and raising children, and this attack on LBGT (lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgendered) Texans will tear apart our families and remove our children from loving, stable families,” the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for Rep. Robert Talton (pictured above), who proposed the ban, said he no longer wished to discuss the issue. [...]
Talton’s amendment would require the state to ask a prospective foster parent if he or she is homosexual. Gays and lesbians would be eliminated from consideration, and foster children who live with gay parents would be removed from their homes. The measure would also allow the state to conduct investigations into a prospective or current foster parent’s sexual orientation.
Sources for this story:
News24.com
L.A. Time
It’s astonishing, isn’t it? Just imagine that if you became a foster parent, all of that could end. What’s next? Adoption? If adoption follows and you’ve legally adopted a child, would the child be removed from you? Sometimes, I really do feel like I’m living in some third world country that has no sense of human rights.
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I really would love to have a citation for the quotes you attribute to rep talton. He's a jack-ass and clearly stupid. You can quote me.
Lindy
Bill To Ban Gay & Bi Foster Parents Moves Into Texas Committee. (Austin, Texas) A committee of the Texas legislature has begun hearings on a bill that would ban gays from adopting or becoming foster parents. The sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Robert Talton (R Pasadena) told the House State Affairs Committee that putting children in homes with gay or bisexual adults "is child abuse." Children are better off in orphanages than in the homes of lesbian, gay or bisexual foster parents, Talton told the committee, "I don't consider them to be parents," he said of gay and bisexual foster parents.
I agree with you 100%,when aids first came out my friend ron was taking his friends into his home to care for them,when everyone else was to afraid,we are much stronger than people think we are,if given a chance we could do alot more,but some people will only see us with there eyes and minds closed,that is what makes me so mad,like we said before without us on the earth it would be a very dull place,we give it color,i just wish people would see us for more than just "gay" it seems like we have to work 200% harder to prove we are just like anyone else,when i was a nurse in columbus ohio,the kkk had a rally at our state house,i was in the front row with my friend who is afraican american,she was in her 70's and had to go back to work after her husband died,one of the clowns called her a ni---- and i statred screaming back at them,my friend looked at me and said,this person was taught to hate,i was never so mad in my life as i was that day,i had never seen such hate,and our state allowed this to take place,the kkk was behind a fence being protected,when we where out in the open,that is the same way we are being treated now,we are out in the open,and the people we elect to make our laws for us are working against us,i feel the same way i did that day at the rally.
Dan,
I think you are right. To me, the openly hostile laws that are so blatantly bigoted will eventually be challenged and hopefully (if we still have a "fair" Supreme Court that's not been filled with Christian fundamentalists) overturned as being unconstitutional (assuming we haven't changed the Constitution).
The "covertly hostile bills" that you talk of that, on their face, aren't against our community, can lay the framework for other things to happen, making those actions harder to overturn.
Tony,
I understand what you are saying about the gay parades. I understand that many people see gay men in drag at those parades or parading around in little more than a jock strap with a leather vest on and go away thinking that is the way all gay men act.
It is important though to realize WHY this happens. With human nature, NOTHING happens in a vacuum. Our community is blessed with many wonderful and creative people. The fact that they act out on it one day a year isn't so much to be condemned - the fact that people misread it is unfortunate. The same man who was dressed in that jock strap will, the next day, show up for work in his boring gray suit in the financial district to his equally boring job, where he has to "act" as straight as the next gay man next to him.
It is that same creativity that we want to condemn at the parades when people act out that created the support network for people with AIDS, when no one in the straight community wanted to help us. It was back then that I realized that we were unstoppable. We were faced with life or death, and we organized and fought back. We made support networks that were later used to support people in other communities - at least the model was used.
The other thing to realize is that the people who are fast to judge "all" gay men by the actions of the few have already made up their minds about us, before even going to the gay parade. If they were honest with you before they went, they would have told you, "We are going to see the freak show." These people were never our friends, and never will be. We need to call a spade a spade.
I'm tired of making excuses for people who dislike us because they can't get over the stereotypes of us and see us as people. I say, "fuck 'em". That's where I'm at in life. I turned 50 years old this year and I've learned that there's a certain luxury to being older. That is, you no longer have to make excuses for other people's actions. If their actions towards our community sucks, I'm going to be the first to get up in their face and say, "YOU are a fucking bigot." They can take that and stick that in their little box of stereotypes. I suppose they will go away thinking, "All gay men are angry mean people." That's fine, because right now, I am.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that our community is "queer" - we aren't like the rest of America. We should admit that and be honest about that. We shouldn't change to be "straight enough" for America to accept us. I don't want us to be like the rest of America. I want America to finally realize that we have so much strength, character, and creativity that we can add to the fabric of America - IF America will just give us a chance. A big part of that means that America has to be willing to give us equality IN EVERY WAY.
Until that happens, we will never belong to America. We, our community, also run a risk here. If we ever become totally ingrained in the fabric of America, America will benefit and some aspects of American life will hopefully open up to new possibilities. On the other side of the equation is our community that will probably lose some of it's character in this process. That would be unfortunate, but inevitable.
A bill like this is sure to be challenged by the ACLU and in my opinion sure to be overruled by the US Supreme Court.
It is not the blately bigoted laws that bother me. These will be dealt with. It's the more covertly hostile bills that we have to worry about.
Dan
Why should texas be any diffrent from the rest of america,there are bigots everywhere texas just grows them bigger,untill more people see us as humans just like them it will be this way,my problem is that when a gay man or women,is in public acting like an idiot it makes people think we all act like that,i am talking about parades letting it all hang out that is what people see us as,just a faggot that just wants sex,we go to gay parks and gay bars,and pick up one nighters,we have careless sex,and all we want is sex,that is how staight people see when they think of us,staight people have no problem with there own doing the same thing,but when you are gay,they think we can not have the same morals as they have or dont have,i have very strong morals,and i treat everyone the same way i want to be treated,there are many diffrent people in this world,untill we can come together and meet half way,we are not going to have the same resecpt that some straight people get,untill then they keep spitting in our faces every chance they get,but never let it be said that we are a nation that is free,that is a lot of hogwash.
I am absolutely sure that there are MANY people in Texas who would love to do away with us. By that, I mean kill us. Do away with us so that they never hear from us again.
Many will be surprised I suppose to hear me say such a statement, but that's very much the way I see it. I am actually afraid to go to Texas. I'm absolutely being honest about that. It shouldn't be that way. Not in a country who claims to be "free".
Better you should ask, "Can death camps be far behind?" The religious nutcases aren't going to stop until that's a reality, and it won't just be gays and lesbians (at least not at first)...it's going to be anyone who doesn't follow their hypocritical religious party line.