LGBT couples in Italy should be given the same adoption rights as straight couples because LGBT adoptions have actual advantages to both the parents and adopted children and children raised in same-sex households have no significant differences in well-being outcomes compared to other children.
INTRODUCTION
Imagine if you finally found the perfect soulmate that you have always dreamed of. Like a dream come true, you plan to have a loving family and raise adorable children with your significant other through adoptions, since both of you biologically cannot conceive. However, you found out that this perfect plan will not become reality, as you and your partner are denied rights to adopt in your own country because of your sexual orientation.
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This topic is a rising issue right now since a lot of European countries recognize homosexual relationships but fail to give equal rights to the people in this community. After becoming interested in the topic of adoption, I researched more on LGBT adoptions, specifically in Italy since the situation there is complicated. I have done my research on this topic by reading countless news articles and journal articles regarding the issues surrounding LGBT adoptions.
Today, I would like to talk about first, the issues surrounding the rejection of giving equal rights to LGBT couples in Italy, second, the actual benefits of LGBT adoptions to the parents and adopted children and I would also highlight how there are no differences in outcomes of the well-being of children raised in same-sex households, compared to heterosexual households.
First and foremost, I will start by briefly explaining about why some citizens of Italy deny the rights of adoptions to LGBT couples.
Body
There are a few major reasons on why LGBT adoptions are still such a controversial topic in Italy.
1. The major religion in Italy is Christianity and most Italians adhere to the Catholic Church, which rejects homosexual acts.
- a) The Catechism of the Catholic Church views “homosexual acts” as “intrinsically immoral and contrary to the natural law,”
- b) Homosexuals catholics are called to practice chastity, which means that they should refrain from extramarital or simply, all sexual intercourse.
- c) Based on the 2017 Being Christian in Western Europe survey by Pew, a percentage of 58% of Italians deemed religion as a significant aspect in life.
- d) The survey found that Italy was the only country whose results showed that there are more practising Christians than non-practising Christians in the country.
- e) Although LGBT relationships are legal in Italy, there are still some conservatives who are against LGBT adoptions because of these religious reasons.
2. The Laws and authorities in Italy are not adhered to give equal rights to LGBT couples for adoptions.
- a. LGBT couples cannot legally marry, but the option of civil unions are available for them.
- b. Since adoptions are only for married couples of the opposite sex in the country, this gives no room for LGBT couples to adopt.
- c. Even the new Italian Family Affairs Minister, Lorenzo Fontana made more controversial claims about LGBT families, claiming there is no such thing as “rainbow families”. (June 2018)
Now that I have covered about the issues surrounding this topic, I am going to discuss about the benefits of LGBT adoptions to the same-sex parents and the adopted children.
Same-sex parents are more committed, better motivated and involved in terms of parenting, as they chose to be parents. A lot of heterosexual couples come across a huge problem that is accidental pregnancies. They did not plan to have a family, thus they are not ready for the huge responsibilities of raising a child. This will result to a lot of mental disruptions to both the parents and the unwanted child. A research done by BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth in 2017 found that couples who face accidental pregnancies experience poorer quality relationships and may receive lower levels of support from the people around them. These have been hypothesised to be the main causes of the link between unplanned pregnancies and post-partum depression.
However, same-sex parenting is the opposite since most of the decisions made by this community is conscious and is already an acknowledged option for them since they cannot conceive children on their own. In addition, same-sex parents are also more likely to have better financial security in raising children. This is due to the fact that they often have to utilize costly fertility treatments and adoption procedures in order to have children.
This will also benefit the children as they are welcomed into a family that wanted to give all their love and are able to provide financially for the children expenses since they chose the right timing, are ready and aware of the responsibilities of parenting. LGBT adoptions can open more doors to more children in orphanages who are waiting to be adopted.
Older, special-needs, minorities and children with siblings are considered undesirable to be adopted because of reasons such as more amount of money needed for medical fees and also discrimination against the minority races. By giving LGBT couples the same rights to adopt through joint adoptions, this will decrease the long list of children in orphanages. It is better for children to grow up in a family setting, whether in a same-sex household or heterosexual household as for children, having parents is definitely better than growing up without one.
In October of 2011, a report by Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute found that from LGBT adoptions at approximately 300 agencies, 10% of kids chosen to adopt by them were kids older than 6 although it being considered “too old” to be adopted. 60% of them adopted children of different races although children of minorities are rarely adopted permanently. In addition, more than half of them adopted special-needs children. Although some argued that adoption agencies took advantage of this situation to give “less desirable” children to “less desirable” parents, these huge percentages could also point to the possibility of LGBT couples’ own preferences in adoptions.
You can see that LGBT adoptions actually benefit both parties, the parents and the children. To further elaborate, we will be moving along to the discussion whether children who were raised in same-sex households have different outcomes in terms of well-being when compared to children raised in heterosexual households.
There are no significant differences in the children well-being outcomes, whether raised by same-sex parents or heterosexual parents, in fact, recent research could point that same-sex parenting could actually be better for the children. A research done in 2020 by Deni Mazrekaj of University of Oxford compared standardized test scores measured at the end of primary education of children with same-sex or different-sex parents in Netherlands. The research found that children with homosexual parents perform significantly better than heterosexual parents at the end of their primary education.
Test scores of these children are 0.106 standard deviation higher than children raised in heterosexual households. The research also found that children with same-sex parents perform equally well in attaining a diploma in secondary education as their peers. In addition, when focused more on children who are raised from birth by same-sex parents, the research concluded that they are 4.8 percentage points more likely to graduate than other children.
As you can see, children with same-sex parents can perform well in life with no significant differences, or even better from children with heterosexual parents.
CONCLUSION
I have told you about the issues surrounding this topic, how LGBT adoptions could benefit the parents and adopted children and how children raised in same-sex households can actually have better well-being outcomes compared to children in heterosexual households. LGBT couples in Italy should possess the same adoption rights as straight couples as it have actual advantages to the parents and adopted children and children with same-sex parents have no significant differences in terms of well-being when compared to other children.
n conclusion, we should not discriminate the LGBT community by not giving them equal human rights in having a family and raising children. They are also human, as capable as any other human out there who wishes to become parents.
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