Indiana Lawmaker Hates Children
May 12, 2006: Claiming he wants to “end confusion,” Indiana state senator Jeff Drozda wants to introduce a bill that will bar same-sex couples from adoption.
As this story from 365.Gay makes clear, people like Sen. Drozda want to prevent children from being adopted into same sex homes EVEN WHEN theres no one else who wants them! Because we all know how fabulous it is to raised in foster care, right?
This case also shows how people use the fact that gay people can’t be married against us. Which is why equal marriage rights will change everything when it happens (and that is a “when,” not an “if.”)
An Indiana state senator said Thursday he will introduce a bill that would bar same-sex couples from adopting.
Sen. Jeff Drozda (R-Westfield) said the legislation would end what he called confusion in the courts. Drozda said that because current state adoption laws do not specifically prevent same-sex couples from adopting some judges approve same-sex co-parenting while others do not.
Drozda’s bill comes as Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter considers appealing a state appeals court ruling last month that said a lesbian couple could adopt a child through a joint petition that gives both partners equal custody. (story)
Carter is expected to announce next week if his office will appeal.
In a split-decision the Court of Appeals overturned a Morgan County judge ruling that only married couples could be co-adoptive parents.
The case involved Becki Hamilton and Kim Brennan, a lesbian couple who live in Morgan County and have been in a committed relationship for more than a decade. The infant was a foster child in their care.
Last year they applied to probate court in nearby Marion County where the state adoption agency is located, to adopt the child.
The adoption was approved but a judge in Morgan County ordered the adoption halted.
At the Appeals Court the state argued that because the women live in Marion the ruling in that county should stand. The state did not challenge the adoption on the issue of sexuality but on Indiana law which prohibits adoptions by two unmarried individuals.
The couple was represented by Lambda Legal which argued that no one else had come forward to adopt the baby and that the couple was fit to be parents. Lambda also noted in arguments that the adoption law is discriminatory since same-sex couples cannot legally marry in the state.