Last week the Oklahoma Department of Health decided not to appeal the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision to uphold a lower court ruling that struck down an Oklahoma constitutional amendment, the Adoption Invalidation Law. The Oklahoma law was described by legal scholars as being so severe it had the potential to make children adopted by same-sex couples in other states legal orphans once arriving in Oklahoma.
The 2004 amendment sparked a national debate. Lawmakers in Oklahoma essentially stated that no other states' court of law was capable of determining if a same sex couple is able and qualified to adopt and be joint legal guardians of a minor. In their final ruling the Court of Appeals stated, "We hold that final adoption orders by a state court of competent jurisdiction are judgments that must be given full faith and credit under the Constitution by every other state in the nation,"
In the real world far departed from the realm of The Oklahoma State Legislature and State Department of Health on this issue, according to the 2002 US Census 33 percent of female same-sex couple's households and 22 percent of male same-sex couples households report at least one child under the age of 18 living in the home.
The American Psychological Association states in its findings:
"there is no scientific evidence that parenting effectiveness is related to parental sexual orientation: lesbian and gay parents are as likely as heterosexual parents to provide supportive and healthy environments for their children"; and "research has shown that the adjustment, development, and psychological well-being of children is unrelated to parental sexual orientation and that the children of lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish."
Last year the Canadian Department of Justice researched children of same sex couples but refused to release its findings until citizens demanded the report under Canada's equivalent of the Freedom of Information Act called the Access to Information Act.
The Justice Department findings stated:
The strongest conclusion that can be drawn from the empirical literature is that the vast majority of studies show that children living with two mothers and children living with a mother and father have the same levels of social competence. A few studies suggest that children with two lesbian mothers may have marginally better social competence than children in traditional nuclear families, even fewer studies show the opposite, and most studies fail to find any differences. The very limited body of research on children with two gay fathers supports this same conclusion.
Many right wing leaning bloggers have tried selling the old canon of the Republican Party that gay people are not people we are only an issue. If any group of citizens is marginalized and dehumanized down to an issue instead of flesh and blood, laws like the one written by Oklahoma legislatures see the light of day. Along with other laws still facing minorities today the very spirit of our freedom and dignity is being washed away by our own government. The evidence strongly contradicting the right wings political pandering to our country as to the competency and morality of gay Americans is mounting against them at a more rapid rate now than at any other time in our nation's history.
The following groups specializing in all aspects of child development and care have advocated the adopting or foster care of a minor by same sex couples:
American Psychological Association, the Child Welfare League of America, the American Bar Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the National Association of Social Workers, the North American Council on Adoptable Children, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychoanalytic Association, and the American Academy of Family Physicians
The professionals representing each agencies finding and decision to support adoption by same sex couples represent a vastly greater pool of experience to draw from to make this decision in contrast to that of any conservative blogger or politician trying to appeal to the fears and bigotry that still exist in our country.
Resources for further reading:
APA Online Findings and Studies of Same Sex Couples Adoption
Wikipedia LGBT Adoption and LGBT Parenting
Gay / Lesbian Friendly Adoption Resources
"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends." ~ Maya Angelou
Reuters reported in a now yanked article from their web site that media mogul and entertainer 
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Tonight, August 9th, on the 
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