Should people involved in homosexual or lesbian relationships be allowed to adopt children?

The High Court is presently considering whether homosexual and lesbian couples should be allowed to co-adopt children. Are children who grow up in single-sex parented homes advantaged or disadvantaged?

These statistics show the tragic consequences of fatherless and single parent homes in the United States:

• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.
• 85% of all children that exhibit behavioural disorders come from fatherless homes.
• 80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes.
• 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.
• 75% of all adolescent patients in drug abuse centres come from fatherless homes.
• 85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home.

While this applies to children who grow up in fatherless homes, mothers are equally important in the lives of children and the results of ‘motherless’ homes are equally tragic. Children who grow up with two mothers and no father, and those who grow up with two fathers and no mother, will be horribly handicapped in life.

Children of homosexuals less sociable and achieve lower grades

Dr Sotirios Sarantakos from Charles Stuart University, Australia did research comparing primary school children in married, cohabiting heterosexual and homosexual couples. Children in normal marriages faired the best, and children in homosexual homes the worst. Children of homosexual couples scored the lowest in language ability, mathematics and sport. They were more timid, reserved, unwilling to work in a team or talk about home lives and holidays. They felt "uncomfortable when having to work with students of a sex different from the parent they lived with" and were the least sociable. Although homosexual couples gave their children "more freedom", married couples cared for and directed their children most. Children of married parents had clear future plans, while the children of homosexuals and cohabiters wanted to leave school and get a job as soon as possible. Children of homosexuals were "more confused about their gender" and more effeminate (irrespective of their gender).

It is not fair of our society, our government and our courts to establish public policy that encourages this social engineering and pretends that homosexual "families" are normal, healthy and desirable. Instead, public policy should work toward mitigating the harmful effects of divorce and single parenting that results in motherless and fatherless homes - not promoting it!

Former lesbian says having children was a cruel mistake

Former lesbian Cherie Tayler had three children by artificial insemination. Her lesbian partner shared the parenting. After the break-up of their 16-year relationship, Cherie admitted that her life as a lesbian has been spurred on by her unloving mother and sexually abusive father. She said that having children had been a cruel mistake. She reported on a 60 Minutes TV documentary that she saw the hurt in her children's faces every day. Her 11-year-old son wanted to know about his father's job, what he looked like, the colour of his eyes - and Cherie was unable to answer. She said, "I (now) believe that children should have the best opportunities in life. The best way they can have a balanced view of what is normal is with heterosexual parents."

It does not matter whether we think homosexuality (the act of "mating" with a member of the same sex) is normal or deviant, emotionally healthy or not, the fact is that we should do what is best for the children. People who live homosexual lives say that they have a right to do what they want in their bedrooms and private lives. But adopting children is not about their "private" lives as it intrudes into the life of children who will not have a choice, and are not old enough to make a mature and informed choice. Special privileges, like adoption, for men or women who engage in homosexuality, are hotly debated worldwide, with the vast majority of countries, and the vast majority of people across the world, saying 'No, let's stick to what is best for the children.'

Children raised homosexuals more likely to explore homosexuality themselves.

A study by two pro-homosexual sociologists from the University of Southern California, Judith Stacey and Timothy Biblarz, showed that these children "seem to grow up to be more open to homoerotic relations (getting involved in homosexuality)." Stacey said that in the past "sympathetic researchers" have defensively stressed an absence of difference, but a re-evaluation of past studies showed that there are significant differences. Homosexual activists were pleased about this. Aimee Gelnaw, director of Family Pride Coalition (a pro-homosexual organisation) responded to the research, "Of course our kids are going to be different. They are growing up in a different social context." Kate Kendall, head of the San Francisco-based National Centre for Lesbian Rights said homosexuals should be elated by the study which shows that "our kids are somewhat more likely to identify as lesbian and gay."

But is this best for children? British MP Julian Brazier says, "This sort of social experiment may be exciting for the people who take part in it but they should ask themselves whether it is in the best interests of the child."

Cornelia Oddie of the U.K. based Family and Youth Concern think tank says, "It must be extra confusing for the children. With homosexual couples the majority of their friends would be presumably part of the homosexual culture, so the children grow up with a skewed idea of relationships. This is bound to give children an unbalanced view of social and sexual relationships."

The implications are severe. With the acceptance of two homosexuals as joint parents, the family is torn from its traditional and God-inspired balance of a mother and a father both giving of their commitment, love and essence to the children. What kinds of homes can homosexuals and lesbians offer children?

Homosexual relationships are short-lived and less faithful

Even in those homosexual relationships, which the partners consider ‘committed’, the meaning of ‘committed’ typically means something radically different from marriage.

• In the Triangle Project study of homosexual men in Cape Town, 47% of respondents said that they were currently in a relationship, yet only 13.3% of respondents had had only one partner in the past year. 60% of the men who were currently 'in a relationship' admitted to having had "sex" with people other than their partners in the past year.
• In the book, The Male Couple: How Relationships Develop, the authors, two homosexual lecturers, report a study of 156 men in homosexual relationships lasting from one to 37 years. Only seven couples had a totally exclusive sexual relationship and of these, the men had all been together for less than five years. In other words, all the so-called ‘couples’ with a relationship lasting more than five years had incorporated some outside sexual activity into their relationships.

Homosexual relationships are more violent than traditional marriage

While homosexuals, particularly lesbians, propagate the idea of the lesbian or homosexual home as one of peace and equality, the truth is that homosexual relationships are far more violent than heterosexual marriages. The U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics reports that married women in normal families experience the lowest rate of violence compared with women in other types of relationships. Consider these studies of homosexual relationships:

• The Journal of Interpersonal Violence published an article entitled "Letting out the Secret: Violence in Lesbian Relationships". Researchers found that 90% of the lesbians surveyed had been recipients of one or more acts of verbal aggression from their intimate partners during the year prior to this study. 31% of women in lesbian relationships reported one or more incidents of physical abuse.
• A survey of 1,099 lesbians found that "slightly more than half of the [lesbians] reported that they had been abused by a female lover/partner. The most frequent forms of abuse were verbal/emotional/psychological abuse and combined physical-psychological abuse."
• In their book Men Who Beat the Men Who Love Them: Battered Gay Men and Domestic Violence, D. Island and P. Letellier report that "the incidence of domestic violence among gay men is nearly double that in the heterosexual population."

Homosexuality and crime

A study of 4340 adults in five metropolitan areas of the USA showed that bisexuals and homosexuals (about 4% of the sample) compared to heterosexuals:

• exposed themselves sexually to more different bodies (more frequently admitting to participating in orgies and reported larger numbers of sexual partners);
• more frequently participated in socially disruptive sex (e.g., deliberate infection of others, cheating in marriage, making obscene phone calls);
• more frequently reported engaging in socially disruptive activities (e.g., criminality, shoplifting, tax cheating); and
• more frequently exposed themselves to biological hazards (e.g. fisting, bestiality, ingestion of faeces and sadomasochism).

• A study published in Nursing Research found that lesbians are three times more likely to abuse alcohol and suffer from other compulsive behaviours than heterosexual women. The study found that: Like most problem drinkers, 91% of the participants had abused other drugs as well as alcohol, and many reported compulsive difficulties with food (34%), co-dependency on people (29%), sex (11%), and money (6%)." In addition, "46% had been heavy drinkers with frequent drunkenness."

• The Triangle Project survey of homosexual men in Cape Town in 2000 found that 68% of men had used at least one recreational drug in the past year. 41% had used marijuana, 40% used ecstacy, 36% used poppers and 25% used cocaine. Acid and speed were used by about a fifth of the men.

• A study in Family Planning Perspective showed that male homosexuals were at greatly increased risk for alcoholism: "Among men, by far the most important risk group consisted of homosexual and bisexual men, who were more than nine times as likely as heterosexual men to have a history of problem drinking."

• The Washington Blade, a homosexual newspaper, reports that "various studies on Lesbian health suggest that certain cancer risk factors occur with greater frequency in this population. These factors include higher rates of smoking, alcohol use, poor diet and being overweight."

Live hard, die fast

Note also that homosexuals have shorter life spans than other people. A study in the United States found that the median age of death of married men was 75 and unmarried heterosexual men, 71. By comparison, homosexual men who died of non-AIDS causes, had a median age of death of 42 (41 years for those men who had a long-term sexual partner and 43 for those who did not). Homosexuals who had long-term partners lived shorter than those who do not. The study also found that homosexuals were 24 times more likely to commit suicide and had a traffic-accident death rate 18 times the rate of comparably aged white males. The 140 lesbians surveyed had a median age of death of 45 and exhibited high rates of violent death and cancer as compared to women in general. The study showed that 20% of lesbians died of murder, suicide or accident – a rate 512 times higher than that of white females of similar age.

Are these kinds of homes the best we can offer our children?

God’s Word is clear that only a man and a woman can enter into marriage, and this is the foundation for the family. Genesis 2:24 reads, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." Malachi 2:15 says that God made a man and his wife one because "He seeks godly offspring." For those who stray from the wisdom of God, the results are tragic. These statistics show that homosexual homes are less stable, more unfaithful and relationships are shorter, and there is more drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence. Children in homosexual homes score lower grades and are more sexually confused and unsociable than other children. If one homosexual couple wins the right to co-adopt children, the door will opened for this social experiment, without further research, study or discussion into the issue.

Stand up, speak up - for the sake of the children. What can you do?

• Pray fervently.
• Tell the truth about homosexuality. Do not allow yourself to be censored. Write to newspapers, your political representative and government officials.
• The SA Law Commission will soon release papers on "domestic partnerships" and proposals to allow people of the same-sex to marry. Be prepared to make submissions on this issue. Fax or email Africa Christian Action for more information.
• Get informed.

Africa Christian Action will soon publish The Pink Agenda: Sexual Revolution and the Ruin of the Family. This book exposes homosexual behaviour and its links to crime, disease, substance abuse, paedophilia and domestic violence. It gives an overview of the history of homosexual activism in South Africa, the local politics that allowed its unprecedented victories and the laws that have already been granted. The book examines the ramifications of having the most liberal constitution in the world.

The work also covers the redefinition of marriage, family and the child in law. A frightening picture emerges when we consider the implications of the 'anything goes' family and attempts to lower the age of sexual consent around the world. With the South Africa government considering establishing "homosexual marriage", you need to be equipped with the facts, and an understanding of where it will all end - if we don't stop the tidal wave!

To order your pre-launch copy of The Pink Agenda, contact Africa Christian Action.

What the Bible says about homosexuality

"For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened… Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another… Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity…" Romans 1:20-29 (NIV)

"Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." Leviticus 18:22 (NIV)