Poor gays in MOFollow

Missouri lifts restrictions on gay foster parents
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Following a court mandate, Missouri officials said Tuesday that they have lifted regulations that automatically prevented homosexuals from becoming foster parents.
But while the decision clears the way for gays to get licensed to care for foster children, officials with the Department of Social Services said it might still be difficult for a gay person to become a foster parent.

"We're considering the biological parents' preferences, and we're also considering the abuse and neglect that occurred to the child and whether or not an alternative lifestyle environment would be confusing or add trauma to an already abused or neglected child," said department spokeswoman Deborah Scott, whose office filed the new rules with the Secretary of State.

Jackson County Circuit Judge Sandra Midkiff ruled in February that the state could not reject a foster parent license application by Kansas City lesbian Lisa Johnston. Johnson, who wanted to foster children with her partner, Dawn Roginski, was turned down three years ago after officials said she lacked "reputable character" because homosexuality was illegal in Missouri.

Midkiff, in her ruling, cited the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas law against same-sex sodomy.

State Attorney General Jay Nixon last month said he wouldn't appeal Midkiff's decision, saying Gov. Matt Blunt had just signed a law that repealed Missouri's anti-homosexuality language.

Blunt's office had urged Nixon, a Democrat, to pursue the appeal, saying the Republican governor opposed gays as foster parents.

The Department of Social Services said it filed the new language to comply with the court decision. But department officials added that from now on, they will ask prospective foster parents about their sexual orientation, something the department didn't routinely do before.

Scott said that the department considers a foster family's cultural background and religion when matching them with children, so sexual orientation is important as well.

"If you have a child who's been abused by someone of the same sex, then placing them in the home of a couple of the same sex might not be in the best interest of the child," she said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri questioned the reasoning for the additional information.

"If they're going to comply with the measure, why do they need to know if people are gays or lesbians?" said Brett Shirk, the group's executive director.

Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson said the governor "still believes gay foster homes aren't the best place for foster children," but said the department shouldn't intentionally discriminate against people solely because of their sexual orientation.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I don't think a child has an innate inability to understand homosexual love. You talk about friends and cuddles, and it's exactly true. Most people have a same-sex best friends, whom they love and care deeply about. nothing weird about that.

The "problem" kicks in with sex.

Since it's still at best outside the norm, and at worst shunned and attacked, it could potentially be problematic for children who are victims of same-sex abuse be adopted by a homosexual couple.

While I agree with you in spirit, there is something to be said for the fact that homosexuality doesn't enjoy the same place in society as heterosexuality. Since it's still at best outside the norm, and at worst shunned and attacked, it could potentially be problematic for children who are victims of same-sex abuse be adopted by a homosexual couple.

Just saying it's not exactly the same thing.

How did you explain homosexuality to your kids? Have you, or do you plan to? Have you thought about what you'd like them to know in order to frame an opinion about it later on, even if it diverges from yours?

Thing is, they understand heterosexual love because it's modelled for them everywhere. When my sister was five, we had a gay couple that lived across the street. She wrinkled her nose at first because she had been raised in a hetero home with a fairly chauvinistic male role model, but when my mother explained that being gay meant they loved each other the way married couples did, she understood that. I think it has to do with how you, as an adult, react. Children imitate behavior. It's how they learn.

Eh? I'm really not sure how you inferred that from what I wrote.

I'm talking about traumas inflicted by negative societal images about homosexuality. And I don't recall saying that they were a good thing, either.

How, exactly? Do you mean children who are abused by children their same age, or vicitms of pedophilia? And if you mean rape victims, then what do you do with hetereosexual vicitms of abuse? Leave them in the facilities for fear that a hetero relationship will damage them further? I don't think you've thought it through.

Eh? I'm really not sure how you inferred that from what I wrote. I'm talking about traumas inflicted by negative societal images about homosexuality. And I don't recall saying that they were a good thing, either.

Jerk off to MOEtasies on your own time, slacker.

I think you're reading too far into what I said, like Barkingturtle did. I was simply responding to Redpheonix's comment to say that because homosexuality isn't looked upon as favorably by society as heterosexuality, children who were already the victims of abuse will likely have it even worse off.

I don't think I'm really going out on a limb by saying that.

I think you're reading too far into what I said, like Barkingturtle did. I was simply responding to Redpheonix's comment to say that because homosexuality isn't looked upon as favorably by society as heterosexuality, children who were already the victims of abuse will likely have it even worse off.

I don't think I'm really going out on a limb by saying that.

I think you're reading too far into what I said, like Barkingturtle did. I was simply responding to Redpheonix's comment to say that because homosexuality isn't looked upon as favorably by society as heterosexuality, children who were already the victims of abuse will likely have it even worse off.

I don't think I'm really going out on a limb by saying that.