Brodzinsky, David, Charlotte Patterson, and Mahnoush Vaziri. "Adoption Agency
Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Prospective Parents:
A National Study." Adoption Quarterly, Vol. 5.3 2002 : 5-23. Web. 2 Mar. 2011.
David M. Brodzinsky is Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University. Charlotte J. Patterson is Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia. Mahnoush Vaziri is a graduate of Douglas College in Rutgers University. This wiki is from an online scholarly journal where a study and poll had been given and that although adoption of children by lesbian and gay adults remains controversial, it is something that still stands as debate in America. Through this poll, David M. Brodzinsky, PhD., Charlotte J. Patterson, PhD., and Mahnoush Vaziri, BA believe that, in fact, many adoption agencies are willing to accept gay and lesbians looking to adopt. Like mentioned in wiki 1, many gays and lesbians rarely identify themselves when seeking adoption to refrain from scrutiny and judgment. This article was able to provide a national survey with adoption agencies and inspect guidelines and outlooks on lesbian and gay couples seeking adoption. This articles included religious influences regarding some agencies, unlike Tom Henderson’s article where religious influence was not mentioned even once as a factor of gay adoption or potential outcomes.
"Gay Adoption." Adoption.com Children's Voice Magazine. Jan. 2002. Web. 7 Feb. 2011.
Madelyn Freundlich is a published author and an editor. Some of the published credits of Madelyn Freundlich include “A Critical Assessment of Concurrent Planning: What Is Its Role in Permanency Planning?” and “Youth Involvement In The Child Welfare And Juvenile Justice Systems: A Case Of Double Jeopardy?” She currently is a caseworker and a social worker. To keep track with gender statistic of gay marriages is something of a more difficult to task to track. Madelyn Freundlich, Policy Director with Children's Rights Inc., states numbers are hard to get because "questions of sexual orientation are often not posed and recorded." New Jersey, New York, and California are among some states that allow gay adoption to occur. Experts believe that many states just have that "unwritten" law based upon morals that are against the gay adoption legislation. However, I do not see how unwritten laws and old legislation can determine who is suitable for adopting children or not. This article gets very droning with the presentation of all the regulation and legalities of various states. However, this article does provide great statistical research along the lines of comparing different state’s legislations with each other opposed to Nauert’s work that does not give enough statistical information and research of his own studies.
“Gay Adoption Ad.” YouTube – Peter Green. YouTube. 06 Apr. 2006. Web. 17 Feb. 2011.
The ad was provided by ILGA (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association), the only worldwide federation campaigning for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex rights since 1978. This group aims for equality and liberation of these people to be freed from any form of discrimination. This video demonstrates just how common society believes that homosexual parents will raise homosexual children. This major misconception is wide among American society. At the end of the ad, there is a statement saying, "gay and lesbian right are human rights." This needs to be the theme here because they are treated as if they are aliens and monsters, and they are people and should be treated just as such. In this commercial, the beginning was wayward and awkward. There were not many clues or hits to guess what the theme or overall message was and the tone was very serious yet ambiguous. I do believe that it provided the audience with an edgy message that causes them to think about and its purpose; whereas the LGBT Ad had more of an animated humorous touch and the message was pretty obvious.
Henderson, Tom. “Sorry, Kids, But 'I Have Two Daddies' Is No Excuse for Bad Grades.” Parentdish.com 29 Oct. 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2011.
Michael Rosenfeld is an Associate Professor in the Sociology department at Stanford University. He has written his own book, The Age of Independence. He has many recent publications as well, including "Intermarriage" and "Nontraditional Families and Childhood Progress Through School." Rosenfeld received his PhD at the University of Chicago. Ever thought you would be able to pin point who had gay parents in your class? Probably not, that is in part because those children really are no different from a regular student. Michael Rosenfeld states, "the biggest determinants of children's educational progress are not parental gender but . . . parental education and parental income." Basically summing up to say that people cannot just specifically point out a child of gay parents. Most people presume that academically and socially, their skills may lack more than others. However, single parents - as this article states - have kids that are more likely to not do outstanding academically. Henderson’s article thoroughly approaches research from various angles such as parental income, parental education, parental social class, and other socioeconomic factors. Henderson was able to take into account exactly what the biggest determinant for child academic performances of a gay household compared to a heterosexual household were.
“LGBT AD - Ilga Portugal.” YouTube - Ilga. YouTube. 04 May. 2007. Web. 17 Feb. 2011
The ad was provided by ILGA (International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association), the only worldwide federation campaigning for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex rights since 1978. This group aims for equality and liberation of these people to be freed from any form of discrimination. This video presents an image that usually would get the attention of older American people. Even though the video is in Portuguese, the women are actually appalled by the guys wearing sort sleeves in the winter, not because they are gay and holding hands in public. The two old ladies say:
- "Have you seen that?"
- "Oh, that's unbelievable"
- "With short sleeves in this cold weather..."
And the slogan -- "For the right to indifference."
I believe that this is how society should adapt. Do not be baffled and confused by two homosexuals showing their affection each other. Most older people would react just the way the two elder ladies did; however, it would be because they are gay, not cold.
This commercial was brilliant and had an animated flare to it. With its amusing approach, this ad conveyed a message that viewers would immediately understand after it was through. Unlike the “Gay Adoption Ad,” the message was very clear and the ambiguity is absent.
Nauert, Rick, PhD. “Gay Parents Have Well-Adjusted Kids.” Relationships and Sexuality News.
PsychCentral. 14 Sept. 2010. Web. 28 Jan. 2011.
Arlene Istar Lev is a family therapist and a social work professor. She hosts many conferences and has extensive publications. She has written books, such as The Complete Lesbian and Gay Parenting Guide. Her publications can be found in International Journal of Transgenderism and The Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy, just to name a few. She received her Bachelor's in Sociology at S.U.N.Y. and her Master's in Social Welfare at S.U.N.Y as well. Skepticism always arises when this topic comes into play. Arlene Istar Lev acknowledges in this article “there is an assumption that the optimal outcome [of a gay-parental household] is to produce heterosexual children." However, this is far from true. Gay parents having homosexual children is just as likely as traditional families with heterosexual parents to produce or have a gay child. In fact, studies have shown that the children of gay parents are just as psychologically healthy as kids of "normal" parents. They are even proven to have fewer problems in the social and academic areas. Nauert’s work does not particularly give enough statistical research and quotes Lev very frequently. His article provides a great synopsis of the assumptions targeted to homosexual parents unlike the “Gay Adoption” article that gives lengthy paragraphs of research after research and numerical statistics with very little depth.
