Republicans shouldn't adopt children: Ohio proposal

Washington - A Democratic lawmaker in Ohio is proposing to prevent supporters of US President George W. Bush's Republican Party from adopting children - his tongue-in-cheek response to proposed Republican legislation that would prevent homosexuals from doing the same.

'I intend to introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents,' said State Senator Robert Hagan in a letter to his colleagues last month.

He said the legislature has 'ignored this growing threat' from Republican adoptions 'for far too long.'

Hagan's proposal is modelled after a bill introduced into the Ohio state legislature by Republican State Representative Ron Hood and nine other Republicans to prevent homosexuals, bisexuals or transgender persons from adopting children. The bill is called 'The Adoptive and Foster Children's Protection Act.'

The Republican initiative in Ohio echoes a similar push from the Bush White House on another issue - that of gay marriage. Bush advocates an amendment to the US constitution that would limit the rites of marriage to male-female pairs, a reaction to several states that have allowed homosexual marriage.

Hagan launched his satirical plan to illustrate a serious point - that preventing homosexuals and others from adopting children has no 'justification whatsoever.'

In his memo to fellow lawmakers, Hagan cites 'credible research' that 'strongly suggests that adopted children raised in Republican households, though significantly wealthier than their Democrat-raised counterparts, are more at risk for developing emotional problems, social stigmas, inflated egos, an alarming lack of tolerance for others they deem different than themselves, and an air of overconfidence to mask their insecurities.'

The Republican proposal to prevent gays from adopting children drew strong criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

'This bill is blatant discrimination in its worst form,' said ACLU of Ohio Executive Director Christine Link. 'It will only cause families to be ripped apart, children to be denied a loving home and the social services systems in Ohio to be flooded with children who would have been otherwise placed in healthy environments.'

Hood said children raised in gay households are 'at increased risk' of suffering from physical and emotional problems, according to the Columbus Dispatch. He cited studies showing that children developed better in 'traditional' households with one mother and one father.

But the ACLU contends that adoption experts have found there is 'no child-welfare basis for banning gay adoption when it is in the best interest of the child.'

Hagan said his legislation is as lacking in 'sound reason and scientific credibility' and as much driven by 'ill-will or animus' toward a certain group as is the Republican proposal.

His humourous effort, however, will likely not be needed.

The Republican leader of the Ohio House of Representatives does not plan to move the legislation, the Columbus Dispatch reported. His chief of staff criticized the bill as 'divisive.'

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This really shows how stupid some lawmakers are.