The Human Rights Campaign recently reported that a lesbian couple in Utah had their foster child taken away because of their sexual orientation. Upon further research, I learned that after some backlash, the judge who made this order reversed his decision. The nine-month old will be allowed to stay with the married couple, April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce. You can read one of the stories here:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/13/utah-judge-reverses-babylesbian-foster-parents
As a Catholic, I am saddened to read these stories, and am also saddened to see how many people support this couple having the baby placed back in their care(judging by the comments in the comments sections of the articles). Like the overwhelming majority of those who oppose the homosexual lifestyle, I do not hate gay people. In fact, true love often requires respectful disagreement. I also believe gay people can show much love and compassion for children. I believe, though, that children grow and thrive best when they have a mother and a father raising them.
The main reason for this is that men and women are different and bring different gifts to the task of raising a child. Two dads will never equal a mom, and two moms will never be a dad. Consider this quote from www.marriageuniqueforareason.org , “Men and women bring unique gifts to the shared task of parenting, that is, of fathering and mothering. Only a woman can be a mother. Only a man can be a father. Each contributes in a distinct and unique way to the formation of children, helping them to understand their identity as male or female”. This truth alone causes me to be against allowing gay couples to foster and/or adopt. Being male and female is part of who we are, and if children don’t understand their identity in that sense because of having two moms or two dads, that is a disservice to them.
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