According to the Boston Globe:
Governor Mitt Romney filed legislation yesterday that would allow religious groups to refuse to provide adoption services if doing so violates the tenets of their faith, including a belief that children should not be placed with gay couples.There is a reason this kind of sickness is being rammed through. And it's got nothing whatsoever to do with "protecting" religious organizations. Religious fanatics on the far right want racist, homophobic, and religiously intolerant legislation on the books, and they want that legislation enforced with a vengeance.
Legislation such as that proposed by Romney, in reality, has to do with ignorant piles of shit who think that if a gay couple adopts a child they will somehow "infect" that child with their gayness--as if being homosexual were somehow a thing to be ashamed of. Ohio's Republican-dominated legislature is trying to ram through a similar law, but with even more insidious consequences.
The proposed Ohio law would 'prohibit a person from adopting "if the individual is a homosexual, bisexual, or transgender individual; the individual is a stepparent of the child to be adopted and is a homosexual, bisexual, or transgender individual; the individual resides with an individual who the court determines is a homosexual, bisexual, or transgender individual."'.
Worse, the law would deny adoptive rights to anyone even suspected of being something other than a heterosexual being; you don't have to be an out-in-the-open homosexual. Ohio would not have to show proof to support its accusation. If the state says you're gay, then as far as Ohio would be concerned you're a ragin' fruitloop. Furthermore, the law would prevent placing a child in foster care in a home if the state suspected that child were homosexual. Because, you know, God shits His holy pants at the thought that a gay child might somehow spread his or her homosexuality to any other kid in the household, right?
Somehow, I doubt it.
These laws have varying chances of successful passage, and fortunately Ohio appears to be one of the states where the chances are lower.
But this was to be expected. With the Republican Party plagued by scandals of corruption and criminal activity within its ranks, and being exposed as a deceitful bunch of cronies beholden to anything and everything except their constituents, voters are showing their increasing dissatisfaction. And there is a chance, however small, that Democrats may be able to retake at least one chamber of Congress this year--assuming they play their cards right and actually fight for their victory.
And if that happens, the party is really and truly over for the Republicans, who have enjoyed the benefits of virtually unchallenged power in Congress and the White House, and very soon the Supreme Court.
Which is why the far right of the GOP is so desperate to shove as much fuckery through state legislatures as possible before the end of Republican rule. And it is also why assholes like J. Kenneth Blackwell, the Republican state secretary who as Ohio's chief election official abused his position to rig the 2004 election in favor of George W. Bush--on whose campaign he served while an election official--has been recruiting the craziest of the crazy right-wing churches and ministers to stump for him. He knows that if he can pander to the powerful lobbying arm of the religious whacko brigade, he can win the bigot vote in the Southern part of the state in his quest to become governor.
And make no mistake, Blackwell is going for the bigot vote. According to FreePress.org, the election-rigging traitor "posted a picture of himself addressing the white supremacist ultra-right Council for National Policy (CNP)...then pulled the picture and tried to hide his participation in the meeting by removing mention of it from his website." (Apparently, he realized at the last minute that being seen cozying up to white supremicists was not a good idea.)
See, Ohio's not-so-favorite uber-Republican being what he is, Blackwell is trying every dirty trick in the book to get his prize: the governorship.
And legislative bigotry such as Ohio House Bill 515, the aforementioned anti-gay adoption law, is the perfect tool for appealing to those in the Buckeye State who choose to indulge in their basest, most negative instinct, which is "if it's different from us, it's no good and must be destroyed or driven out."
And it's happening in places such as South Dakota with its restrictive new anti-abortion law; in Illinois, "the Crystal Lake Park District turned down organizers of the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago who wanted to use the lake for a rowing competition in July."; and in Ohio and Massachusetts, where gays are now being told they have no right to raise families.
Why?
Because despite this being the 21rst Century, society has yet to grow up in many respects. NEWSFLASH: What consenting adults do in their privacy of their own homes is neither your business or mine, and they have as much right to live, work, play and raise families as you or I. A woman has the right to make decisions regarding her own health and whether to continue a pregnancy. And just because a person's skin color is a shade or three darker than your own doesn't mean he or she has no right to vote (are you listening Blackwell and Harris?).
We live in an age where politicians pander to our lowest instincts. It is far past time we did something about it.
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