Huge Letdown In NY
July 7, 2006: Maybe just becasue I’m an optimist, but I assumed that the NY Supreme Court was going to find that the NY State Constitution required equal marriage rights. Unfortunately, the court let us down. I’m sure you’ve read all about it by now, but if not, check out my favorite gay news site, www.pageoneq.com, for links and commentary.
But beyond the disappointment of the ruling itself, I was surprised by the ugliness and poor reasoning of the decision - especially for our families. In writing his decision, Judge Robert S. Smith - a name that will live in infamy - pointlessly included tired - and demonstrably untrue - stereotypes that equal marriage rights will somehow hurt children. This is from Arthur Leonard in the Gay City News.
Smith embraces the peculiar reasoning of the federal court of appeals from the 11th Circuit in its recent decision upholding Florida’s ban on gay people adopting children, the unprovable but conventional assumption that children benefit more from being raised by opposite-sex married couples than by same-sex couples. Setting aside as essentially irrelevant the numerous studies showing that children raised by both kinds of couples turn out about the same, Smith insists that the absence of substantial long-term studies undermines their usefulness, and that the Legislature is free to go on imagining—applying, in his words, “the common-sense premise”—that it is protecting children by forbidding same-sex couples from marrying.
In other words, to Smith the word “rational,” when used to evaluate legislative action, includes acting out of habit or custom, even in the face of contrary evidence. A true conservative, he believes it is rational to blindly preserve existing social arrangements even when they have the effect of discriminating against a segment of society.
As Judge Kaye points out in her dissent, Smith never addresses the significant disadvantages visited upon the numerous children being raised by same-sex couples as a result of the state’s refusal to allow their parents to marry.
Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign (and our sponsor!), had this to say about the court’s decision as it impacts our famlies:
“The court’s archaic reasoning is rooted in ignorance and completely contradicted by the facts of today. The court threw the expert advice of child welfare professionals and years of scientific evidence out the window with its ruling against fairness.”
HRC’s press release went on to give this excellent summation of the body of evidence which refutes attacks on our parenting:
Bolstered by all major research studies, the prevailing professional opinion is that a parent’s sexual orientation has nothing to do with his or her ability to be a good parent. The nation’s leading child welfare, psychological and children’s health organizations also have issued policy or position statements in this regard, including:
American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (1999)
American Academy of Family Physicians (2002)
American Academy of Pediatrics (2006)
American Bar Association (1995, 1999 and 2003)
American Medical Association (2004)
American Psychiatric Association (1997 and 2002)
American Psychoanalytic Association (2002)
American Psychological Association (1976 and 2004)
Child Welfare League of America (1988)
National Adoption Center (1998)
National Association of Social Workers (2002)
North American Council on Adoptable Children (1998)
The American Academy of Pediatrics journal published a report this month finding that children of same-sex couples would benefit from marriage fairness for their parents. Read more on the opinion of leading professional organizations.
The NY court ruling is a huge disappointment, but our community will find a way to move forward. If only for the sake of our children, equality will prevail. But we must work to achieve our freedom. What have you done today to make the world a better place for our families?