Texas Same-Sex Couples could be prohibited from fostering children

April 23, 2005

Texas Senate Bill 6 requires foster agencies to inquire of adopting couples their sexual preference. This bill has caused distress to many, especially among the gay and lesbian community. Representative Robert Talton claims that compared with children raised by a heterosexual couple, those in same-sex households are much more likely to become homosexual.

Talton has also stated that sexual orientation is a choice for the parents: "If they choose to be homosexual or lesbian, that's their choice when they turn 18," he says, regarding the same-sex couples.

Under the bill he proposes, couples who answer 'same-sex' or 'bi-sexual' on the questionnaire, would not be allowed to adopt or foster children. Children fostered currently to same-sex households would be removed from their foster-parent's care.

"Some of us believe they would be better off in orphanages than in a homosexual or bisexual households because that's a learned behavior," the Republican congressman said.

There are reportedly thousands of children in same-sex households in Texas who would be removed, if this bill is passed.

"It's very traumatic to remove a child from a stable home," said Colin Cunliff, field director for the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas. "It's the whole reason they're in the foster system, because their prior home wasn't stable. You're adding to the instability."

According to a 2002 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics, children with homosexual parents have the "same advantages and the same expectations for health, adjustment and development as children whose parents are heterosexual."

A similar law passed in Arkansas was ruled unconstitutional in December.