Gay Foster Parent Ban Defeated

Sometimes the victories for equal rights come from the places we thought least likely. Today, the state of Arkansas struck a blow for freedom and equal rights.

Don't get me wrong, I love the state of Arkansas. I went to school there for three years, and I believe it to be one of the most beautiful states in the U.S. But you have to admit, it has not exactly been a leader in the fight for equal rights for homosexuals - until today.

In 1999, the Arkansas Child Welfare Board instituted a ban on Gays becoming foster parents. It was a sad day for children in Arkansas who desperately needed decent foster care. Evidently, the idiots on the Board believed homosexuality was contagious, and could be passed from parent to child. They never bothered to see the many heterosexual parents who raised children who turned out to be Gay, and the many homosexual parents who raised children who turned out not to be Gay.

Last year, the Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the ban on Gay foster parents. They said the Board had no right to impose such a ban through regulation.

This year, a right-wing nut-job in the Arkansas Senate sought to reimpose the ban through legislation. His bill even went further. He wanted to ban both Gays and unmarried heterosexuals from being foster parents or adopting needy children. He thought it was better for children to do without a loving set of parents, if those parents didn't live up to his own weird religious views.

But today that nut-job, Republican Senator Shawn Womack, seems to have lost his bid to legislate inequality. Although the bill had passed the Senate, it could not get out of the House Judiciary Committee. Not a single member of the Committee would move for its passage, and later they killed the bill on a voice vote.

The Committee members were skeptical over how the ban would be enforced and over how an applicant's sexual orientation would be determined. The governor was clearer - he believes the bill was not constitutional.

Devon Bearden, 15, testified before the Committee (about being raised by her lesbian grandmother). She told them, "I've lived in both types of homes, one with a mother and a father and one with my nana, and in my experience the best one was the one with my nana. I think the home a child goes into should be based on who can best take care of the child." This 15 year-old seems to be smarter than a majority of the Arkansas Senate.

Thank goodness for the Arkansas House Judiciary Committee, as their actions not only struck a blow for the good of Arkansas' needy children, but for the equality of all Americans.