Same-sex adoption in the United States
Until 2017, laws related to LGBTQ+ couples adopting children varied by state. Some states granted full adoption rights to same-sex couples, while others banned same-sex adoption or only allowed one partner in a same-sex relationship to adopt the biological child of the other.
On 31 March 2016, Federal District Court struck down Mississippi's ban on same-sex couple adoptions.[1] On June 26, 2017, the United States Supreme Court reversed an Arkansas Supreme Court ruling that allowed a law listing parents by gender on birth certificates to stand. The new SCOTUS ruling allowed both same-sex spouses to be listed on birth certificates.[2] These court rulings made adoption by same-sex couples legal in all 50 states.
In 2022, Congress passed the Respect for Marriage Act which requires that states respect marriage licenses of same-sex couples as long as the marriage was valid in the state in which it was performed. This act repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act which defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman and allowed states to decline to recognize same-sex marriages that were performed in other states. The Respect for Marriage Act will legally defend the rights and protections to which LGBTQ+ and interracial couples and their children are entitled.[3]
Attitudes toward same-sex parenting have improved as the number of same-sex couples and same-sex parenting overall has increased in the United States. From 2007 to 2011, public condemnation of same-sex parenting in the U.S. dropped from 50% to 35%, while acceptance has remained relatively stable.[4]
In 2023, same-sex couples were more likely to raise an adopted child. 4% of adopted children and 3% of foster children were being raised by LGBTQ+ couples. After Mississippi was the last state to overturn laws banning LGBTQ+ adoption and the federal marriage equality ruling in 2015, there are now protection rights for same-sex couples to adopt throughout the United States which has brought more acceptance and support for same-sex couples when adopting children.[5]
Studies have found that same-sex couples often favor adoption as the method for starting a family. They tend to place significantly less emphasis on the biological methods of conceiving a child than heterosexual families do. LGBTQ families are up to 10 times more likely to adopt than heterosexual couples. Additionally, an organization called Creating A Family reported that 60% of adoptions by LGBTQ families are transracial. One study even found that "gay and lesbian parents were more likely than heterosexual parents to be matched with hard-to-place children, partially because they were more open to being matched with children with hard-to-place profiles."[6] Some argue that these statistics are due, in some part, to discriminatory practices that make it more difficult to adopt for LGBTQ families and deem minority children less “ideal” adoptees.
On April 6, 1999, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) published Overview of Lesbian and Gay Parenting, Adoption, and Foster Care. Key findings included:[7]
Some researchers have written that children of gay and lesbian families are often subjected to teasing and harassment in their peer groups.[9][10] They also tend to be singled out and questioned about their family life more than children in heteronormative homes.[11]
Formerly, many children raised by same-sex parents had been born into one of their parents' previous heterosexual relationships.[12] As such, many prior legal disputes were over child custody in cases of divorce. There were biases against the parent who was in a now same-sex relationship; these biases caused courts to disfavor them in awarding custody and visitation rights. The sexual orientation of the LGBTQ+ parent, and not their ability to provide for the child's needs, was viewed as having a negative impact on the child's upbringing.[12] Similar to intrauterine insemination using a sperm donor, the introduction of in vitro fertilization enabled lesbian couples to raise children of their own who had not been born from heterosexual relationships.[12] The development of in vitro fertilization created controversy about co-parent adoption and, in cases where lesbian couples separated, child custody. The practice also generated controversy about the presumption of parenthood: when a woman in a heterosexual marriage gives birth, her husband is legally presumed to be the child's father, but courts have only recently extended this privilege to lesbian couples.[13]
For male same-sex couples, becoming a parent can be more costly because surrogacy is the only way for them to have a biological child.[14] As such, adoption is generally the more cost-effective alternative for same-sex couples. The average cost of adoption is around $30,000, while surrogacy starts around $100,000 and can be upwards of $150,000, making adoption the more affordable option.[15]
Statistics[edit]
In 2020, the United States Census Bureau determined that same-sex couples (3.1%) are three times more likely to have adopted children than opposite-sex couples (1.1%). Data from 2019 revealed that 43.3% of same-sex couples’ children were adopted and/or stepchildren. Approximately 20.9% of same-sex couples had adoptive children compared to the 2.9% of opposite-sex couples that also had adoptive children. [16]
According to the Williams Institute, as of 2009, "an estimated 20,000 same-sex couples are raising nearly 30,000 adopted children."[17] As of 2011, about two million children in the U.S. were being raised by LGBT parents but could not establish a legal relationship with both parents.[18] In 2019 the American Community Survey revealed that female same-sex households were more likely to have children under 18 in their care (22.5%) than male same-sex households (6.6%). [19]
Public opinion[edit]
A 2007 poll by CNN and Opinion Research Corporation found that 57% of respondents believed that same-sex couples should have the right to adopt, while 40% felt that they should not.[26] More recently, a Gallup poll from May 2014 found that 63% of respondents believed same-sex couples should have the legal right to adopt a child.[27]
From 1994 to 2012, seven national polling organizations asked representative samples of Americans their opinions about the legalization of same-sex adoption, with the main question being, "Do you think there should or should not be adoption rights [such as] gays and lesbians so they can legally adopt children?" Results from this period indicate an increase in support as time progressed. In 1994 survey responses, about one in four (28%) favored same-sex adoption, while in 2012 about five in ten (50%) favored same-sex adoption. In studies from 1994 to 1999, only one out of every three Americans (33%) favored same-sex adoption; from 2002 to 2008, support increased to four in ten (40% favorability). From 2009 to 2012, a majority (from 52% to 61%) approved legalizing same-gender adoption,[28] with greater support expressed among young people than among those over 65 years of age.[28] Results also showed that 85% of the Democrats asked were in support of same-sex adoption, while only 23% of the Republicans asked were in support of it.[28]
In June 2018, a YouGov poll found that over half of Americans (55%) believed that heterosexual and homosexual couples would be equally good parents. Majorities also supported allowing gay (53%) and lesbian (55%) couples to adopt and raise children. When asked whether gay and straight couples can be equally good parents, 38% of respondents “strongly” agreed. Women (47%) were significantly more likely than men (30%) to strongly agree with this statement. Most respondents (57%), however, also expressed the belief that a child should be raised by both a mother and a father. Another 15% “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with that idea. In this case, men (47%) were more likely than women (30%) to strongly agree with the statement that children should be raised by a mother and father. When asked if lesbian couples should be able to adopt and raise children, 55% said yes while 29% said no. When asked about gay male couples, 53% agreed and 32% disagreed. In both instances, women were significantly more likely than men to agree to same-sex couple adoption. Almost half of Americans (47%) said that it was unfair that child welfare agencies can refuse to place a child with a same-sex couple based on religious objection, while one-third (33%) said it was fair. Forty-six percent supported a Connecticut initiative to recruit members of the LGBTQ+ community to become foster and adoptive parents, but twenty-nine percent opposed that measure.[29]
Research conducted by Andrew L. Whitehead and Samuel L. Perry suggests that rising support of adoption by same-sex couples does not indicate changing normative stereotypes about homosexuality. Even when asked questions that suggested that the well-being of the children of same-sex couples was lower, survey respondents tend to support adoption by same-sex parents. This research suggests that rising public support may not be a result of a growing acceptance of the LGBT community, but rather from the growing resentment towards state-funded foster programs. The same study also held that religious affiliations matter less for predicting same-sex adoption attitudes than how Americans practice and hold their faith; notably, support for same-sex adoption was lower among religious respondents who more frequently engage in practices such as religious service attendance and sacred text reading, with support higher among those who believe that the Bible may contain human error.[30]
Gallup's Values and Beliefs poll, which was conducted from May 3-18, 2021, recorded that 70% of Americans support same-sex marriage. Additionally, 87% support interracial marriage.[31] A YouGov survey conducted in May 2019 found that 49% of Americans think it is not okay for adoption and foster agencies to decline placing a child with a same-sex couple for religious reasons; however 36% of Americans said this was acceptable.[32]
In 2021 Ipsos created and shared a poll worldwide on the question "Do you agree that same-sex couples should have the same rights to adopt children as heterosexual couples do?" and the United States responded with seventy-two percent of them strongly/ somewhat agreeing with the statement, six percent responded with not sure, and twenty-two percent of them responded with strongly/ somewhat disagreeing with the statement.[33]
Politics[edit]
On July 29, 1999, U.S. Representative Steve Largent introduced amendment 356 (H.Amdt. 356) to the District of Columbia Appropriations Act, 2000 (H.R. 2587), which would have banned joint adoption between individuals unrelated by blood or marriage in Washington, D.C. The amendment failed with 213 votes in favor and 215 opposed.
In 2004, Jeb Bush, the then-Governor of Florida, was quoted saying: "[I]t is in the best interest of adoptive children, many of whom come from troubled and unstable backgrounds, to be placed in a home anchored both by a father and a mother."[37]
On May 10, 2012, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told an interviewer: "And if two people of the same gender want to live together, want to have a loving relationship, or even to adopt a child – in my state individuals of the same sex were able to adopt children. In my view, that's something that people have a right to do." Asked the next day to reconcile that with his opposition to same-sex marriage, he said: "Well actually I think all states but one allow gay adoption, so that's a position which has been decided by most of the state legislators, including the one in my state some time ago. So I simply acknowledge the fact that gay adoption is legal in all states but one."[38]
Currently, there are legal appeals in a number of states to allow for co-parent adoption, commonly known as second-parent adoption, whereby one parent can adopt the biological child of their same-sex partner without voiding their partner's parental guardianship over the child.[39] This allows the child to be recognized as having two legal parents in cases where the couple is not in a relationship recognized by the state.[39] For the states that allow same-sex couples to adopt, most require that adoptive couples must be married; in the states without specific relevant laws, this issue is addressed based on the best interest of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (H.R. 867).