SSM WILL HELP CHILDREN: From The Humanist

[excerpted at the Amptoons blog--the article isn't online yet]

Nonbiological same-sex partners can most easily be compared with stepparents in heterosexual marriages. Like the same-sex partner, the stepparent has no biological link to the child. Stepparents and their stepchildren enjoy many, though not all, of the benefits and protections of biological parents. Increasingly, courts and legislatures have recognized the importance of maintaining a relationship between the stepparent and stepchild when the marriage dissolves by allowing the stepparent to petition for visitation and in some cases even custody.

Yet stepparents still have more rights than same-sex parents. If the noncustodial biological parent consents, stepparents may adopt children. Same-sex parents in the same situation are required extensive home visits and family studies, if the practice is allowed at all.

If the nonbiological partner is unable to establish a legal relationship with the child, the child can potentially suffer unduly should the relationship dissolve or the biological parent die. For example, the child wouldn't be entitled to financial support from the nonbiological partner, nor will the child have inheritance rights if the nonbiological partner dies without a will.

The child will often suffer emotionally as well. Without a legal relationship, the nonbiological partner has no right to seek custody or visitation, no right to consent to medical treatment of the child in an emergency, and no right to attend parent-teacher conferences or otherwise be involved in the child's day-to-day life and development. ...This starkly contrasts with laws recognizing a married man as the legal parent of any child born to his wife during the marriage regardless of any biological relationship between the father and the child--actual paternity doesn't have to be proved. ...

...The present practice of denying these children protection is similar to earlier draconian laws penalizing illegitimate children for the "sins" of their parents.

more
posted by Eve at 6:03 PM | link

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home