Artist Statement This year we did a project on the Morality and Political of Justice and picked a social issue to research on. I chose the LGBT Adoption Rights and I fully support it. I drew a political cartoon to show my perspective. I decided to draw a gay couple in a bubble with words that stop them from being parents. The gay couple I drew are happily crying while holding a baby because they always wanted a happy healthy family.
Part 1
In June of 2015, the Supreme Court finally ruled in favor of gay marriage. As someone who has many friends in the LGBT community and has been supporting the gay rights for quite some time now, I fully support adoption rights for gay couples. I didn’t know what the LGBT was until my best friend dated this girl and I wouldn’t be bothered by it at all I would support her. One of my family members came out to our family and my parents didn’t like that because their religious and they still love that person but they don’t support it. When we all found out, they would tell my brothers and me that being gay or lesbian is bad because you’re sinning. At the time I was confused because I supported it and now that my parents are telling me it’s bad and to stay away from those people made me stand in the middle. However, there has been other forces in my life that have tried to challenge my support for gay rights but ultimately strengthened my beliefs. My parents are religious and traditional people when any LGBT situation comes up we are head to head. They don’t support the LGBT adopting because in their opinion it’s ‘scary’ and say, “All children needs a male and female figure model in their life.”
My parents support nothing that has to do with the LGBT because what they’ve told me was that it’s wrong to like the same sex. One of my family members decided that they wanted to come out to our family, he’s my uncle and he’s gay. When he told my parents they freaked out after that we headed home and once we got home, they gathered me and my brothers into the living room. I remember they said, “Being gay is a sin, and it’s wrong.”
I value equality and believe everyone should have the same basic rights even if their race, religion, gender and sexuality is different than others. It is no surprise I would fully support the adoption rights for the LGBT community. I’ve been supporting the LGBT community for a long time now, and I’ve always been around people who are a part of the LGBT community. Some of my close friends who are gay frequently talk about how they want to adopt kids when they are older, but I haven’t really looked into the specifics of LGBT Adoption Rights until recently.
I want my friends and anyone apart of the LGBT community to be happy and be able to adopt kids if they choose to. Now years later I still support it strongly and when the LGBT comes up with my parents, we don’t agree with each other but I learned to stand up for what I support. This topic of the LGBT Adoption Rights comes up with my friend who one day wants to adopt a kid when they’re older and getting different perspectives from different people will help strengthen my argument.
Part 2- Pro/Yes
In order to have equality and liberty for all citizens we must allow gay couples to adopt. However the evidence suggests otherwise, many people fear that if the LGBT people raise a child and when the kid gets older that they would ‘turn gay’ because the influence of their parents. In 2015 the Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriage was a turning point decision for the LGBT community and a victorious end to decades of protest and activism. However, the fight for equality is far from over. The next issue is gay couples being able to adopt and the gay community should be able to adopt a child like any other couple. Raising a child with a same sex couple isn’t that much different from a regular couple the only thing different is their sexual orientation.Children desire a loving and caring family. It’s not just one mother and one father that could give them love and care. Every child, adopted or not needs a good and positive role models, yet when this topic comes up, opponents argue that role models should be a mother and father not a gay couple. Parents are not the only ones that play the role models, but everyone that they are around. Those who oppose allowing gay couples to adopt might claim that such a law would endanger our children. Recently, I had had a discussion with my own parents about their views on this topic. My parents see the LGBT community as a big sin and anything that has to do with the LGBT is against their religious views. I started with the topic of gay marriage and asked, how do you feel about gay marriage, they responded with, "God made everyone to love the opposite sex and now there's people who are gay that's not right. Men and women are suppose to be the ones together not two men and or two women.". When I asked them where do you stand on gay couples adopting, they responded by saying, “We are putting them (the children) in danger because those people could rape or hurt the kids in a sexual way.". They value security more than anything so when they talked more about how children are being put in the hands of gay couples adopting.
Are we putting children in danger in the hands of gay parents? There’s a difference between homosexual and a pedophile; these two terms do not connect in any way and if the parents are gay that doesn’t make them a pedophile. In fact, there is far more of a risk of heterosexual men committing acts of pedophilia than gay men as Carole Jenny writes in a recent, Pediatrics book. “Ninety percent of child abuse is committed by heterosexual men. In one study of 269 cases of child sexual abuse, only two offenders were gay or lesbian”. The ACLU stands for The American Civil Liberties Union and they are a reputable source as a longstanding civil rights activist organization. Clearly, this data shows that we should not be concerned by gay couples being more predatory toward their adopted children than straight couples. This is simply not borne out in the evidence and is based strictly on irrational homophobic fears.
According to an 18th century moral philosopher, John Rawls’, we should protect the equality of our citizens above everything else. John Rawls’ Veil of Ignorance idea puts forward that all laws should be made that ignorance of law makers’ place in society. We should forget about our knowledge of our social status and sexuality, etc. John Rawls talks about the Veil of Ignorance and it’s about how an individual has liberty and freedom rights but that individual’s rights cannot interfere with other people's rights. According to Laurence W. Mazzeno, “He includes that the only logical choice is to pick a system that treats people equally, regardless of their race, class, gender, etc.”. This ties in with the gay adoption rights because John Rawls the Veil of Ignorance is about equality and as long as the individual isn’t interfering with anyone's rights then they’re good. How are gay couples interfering with an individual's freedom and liberty rights? They aren’t, people choose to interfere with their rights to adopt and stopping them from their own freedom to have a family.
Part 3- Con/No
Security is the biggest part for our children because we want them to live safely. When the LGBT adoption rights come up, there are many issues with this that come down to arguments about religion and gender role models. The biggest thing here is security for the children who are being adopted by gay couples, we should not allow them to adopt because in order to secure the morality of marriage and the traditional culture our nation's has been founded on.
Every child needs a mother and a father in their life; it’s very important that kids have good role models. But in this time and day, things have changed where gay and lesbian couples have adopted kids. Some gay couples can’t have children because both couples are male or the female is infertile. But most states allow the LGBT to adopt and join adoption.
Some believe if gays aren’t able to have a child, they shouldn’t be able to adopt. According to in “It’s just not Right” from Debate.Org, “I believe if they cannot bring the child into this world they should not be allowed to have a chance…” This was posted anonymously. A majority of people say if we let these kids have gay parents, we are only putting them in danger and according to Laura Starkey it’s, “Because of the fear that homosexual individuals will sexually abuse children if they are the same gender as the parents (or even if not). Fear that homosexuality extends to pedophilia.” from Quora. This is what many people fear and this is why we should not allow gay couples to adopt there’s a big risk that these children aren’t going to be safe.
Project Reflection
Project Description In our humanities class we choose a topic of any social issue and argue both sides. We started with civil rights and started learning about some moral philosophers.
Writing Growth For our project, we did a lot of writing along with some critique. I wasn't expecting to get as much critique on my writing but as we checked in, I got a lot of feedback and that helped me improve my writing. Usually I don't get that much feedback from my teachers or peers and to get that much feedback definitely improved my writing skills. I learned to
Personal Growth and Perspective 1. Now that you have looked at both sides more deeply, How and why has your perspective shifted? After this project was finished, I didn't see any changes with my perspective. I still disagree with the con side but I do understand where they come from and after some research I was more open to hear other people's views on this topic. Before the project started, I knew this was going to be a challenge for me because I fully support anything that has to do with the LGBTQ+ community. I wasn't ready to read or research for the non supporting side because I didn't understand why people wouldn't support the adoption rights. But from a personal perspective I have my parents to talk to and hear out what they think about. the topic.
2. What was most challenging for you about this project and/or presenting your perspective at exhibition? What did you learn about yourself in working through this challenge? The most challenging thing thing about this project was writing the other side of my argument. When writing the con/no side, it was really hard to argue with the pro side and being open to others opinions or beliefs. During the exhibition we had people go around and talk about our topics. Most people agreed with my paper and was on the pro side but there were a few people who didn't agree. They argued that having the LGBT adopt wasn't right or they would say that my facts weren't correct. I knew that there was going to be some people who weren't going to agree with me and that's completely okay but I wished that they would've explained why they believed that, I learned to be more open and to stand up for what I strongly believe in.