Why Some Youth Will Pass Mother's Day In Sadness

By Brody Levesque | WASHINGTON -- Mother's Day is tomorrow and there are going to quiet family celebrations all across the United States honouring Moms. Sadly, because of religious based bigotry, there will be alot of homeless and parentless LGBTQ and other youths who will be unable to show their love and appreciation for their Moms.

Principle reason? Bigotry- because in the instance of many of the LGBTQ youth, it was their own mothers who turned their backs on their children because they were Gay or Lesbian or Bi or Trans and threw them out. For the others? It will because they are in foster care or state run group homes and shelters waiting for someone to adopt them, love them, be a part of their lives and in the case of numerous jurisdictions, will most likely grow to attain the age of majority without any chance of being adopted into a loving home by willing same-sex couples, again, because of religious based bigotry.

Just this week according to the editors at LGBTQNation, one of the largest adoption and foster care services in Illinois has threatened to drop placement of youth if it is forced to place children with gay and lesbian couples, a move that could affect thousands of children:

"When the state’s new civil unions law goes into effect on June 1, Catholic Charities — with more than 3,000 children in its foster care and adoption agencies — said they do not plan to serve gay couples in those unions."

Last month, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed legislation that directs the state and other adoption agencies to give married couples a preference over single adults when placing children in adoptive homes. According to the Phoenix New-Times:

The new law doesn't necessarily say homosexuals can’t adopt kids — but it states that Arizona would prefer that married couples be given higher consideration for adoptions than non-married people, if all other factors are equal.

In other words, since homosexuals aren't allowed to tie the knot in Arizona — yet — they would lose out to heterosexual married couples every time.

A sad statement of the current mentality of the so-called christian conservative dominated legislatures and statehouses across the United States, is the mere fact that these are not isolated pockets of religious bias. In Virginia and Florida, the battling over adoption rights has gotten entangled in legal cases and in the case of Virginia, the state's vehemently anti-gay attorney general weighed in putting to an end any hope that same-sex couples would be afforded a chance to provide a nurturing and loving environment for the children in that state who need a home.

The anti-gay rhetoric is being ratcheted up in state after state by these conservatives and their allies like the National Organisation For Marriage, (NOM) or the Family Research Council, or the American Family Association as well as the Focus on The Family to name the principle leaders in the fight against equality rights.

Who loses? The same-sex couples quite obviously, but thousands of children who need loving homes are affected and forced to remain in foster care. BN&S columnist Terry Mason noted in his op-ed yesterday:

"Many conservatives who support these discriminatory laws publicly promote the perception (through media) that child molestation is directly linked to homosexuality, and boldly claim that this is the reason that same-gender-loving people are unfit to parent and should never be permitted to adopt. Perhaps, it's because many continue to falsely associate homosexuality exclusively with sexual behavior and thus believe children are not safe around gay men or lesbian women."

Yet the truth is that all of the vocal opposition to same-sex couples adopting children or raising children is based on blatant bovine scatology. The reality flies in the opposition of the garbage spewed by these christians. Worse- these anti-gay christians insist on spreading falsehoods, misconceptions, flawed data, all based on perceptions and interpretations focused on their own belief based theological bigotry.

Just how wrong are these christian fundamentalists? LGBTQNation ran an article this past Tuesday that paints a picture that longtime LGBTQ activists and allies have been saying time and time again- being Gay is simply a variant of a the composition of a human no different that hair colour or eye colour, or even skin colour. But, most of all, being Gay does not effect one's ability to parent a child.

Meet the Hams. Steven and Roger Ham, a gay couple of 18 years who are raising 12 adopted children, ages 2 to 16 — in a state that prohibits gay couple adoptions. In 2009, the Hams received an award from the Arizona Association for Foster and Adoptive Parents, signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, for not only providing a secure, loving and stable home for their children but for working so hard to keep siblings together in a system that often forces them apart.

Kinda destroys the theory that Gay folk can't parent eh? To bolster my contention that the christian bigots are completely wrong is this amazing young college student from Iowa, Zach Wahls, who went in front of that state's legislature to defend his 2 Moms and their marriage- making it absolutely crystal clear that his mothers' being lesbian has had zero effect on him as well as his younger sister. Watch:

I hate to be cynical but the truth is I have determined that these so-called christians aren't interested really even in their own twisted dogma, it's all about the money. Worse, they do not really care if children get the so-called loving homes they keep fretting about. Nope, and I am certain of this because?

Here's just one example of just how hypocritical these conservative christians are:

With Mother's Day fast approaching, I am constantly reminded how grateful I am that Sheila agreed to marry me.

You probably know this, but it deserves repeating. Sheila deserves most of the credit for my success in stopping the radical homosexuals.

You see, when I grew weary, Sheila stood strong, knowing how important our work is.

This Mother's Day, I want to ask you to help me do something special to thank Sheila for her courage over the past 29 years.

I want to be able to present her with a huge pile of Mother's Day Cards from all of Public Advocates' friends and supporters.Mother's Day is May 8. I would love to present her with a stack of Cards and donations to let her know just how much we all appreciate her strength. But that's not much time!

Your signed Card and most generous contribution will make this Mother's Day one Sheila won't forget.

Click Here to sign the Mother's Day card to my wife Sheila

Your Card will mean a lot to Sheila. I know her face will light up with joy and gratitude to you for remembering her on Mother's Day.

But to really put her fears to rest, please enclose a contribution as well.

That bit of duplicitous crap was in an e-mail put out by the Virgina based Eugene Delgaudio, the director of the so-called Public Advocate of the United States organisation. There's a brilliant examination and analysis of this fool's bull shit here: [ Link ] 

Oh and trust me, similar garbage has been spawned by the above mentioned christian organisations.

As we celebrate Mother's Day and honour them all, remember that there are kids without Moms who will suffer needlessly because the so-called loving christians are bigots parading behind their banners and declarations of Christ's love. The truth? Yeah well I think my illustration best captures my opinion on those fools.