As a gay man and someone who was adopted, it’s annoying/frustrating/thoroughly enraging to hear people like Mike Huckabee compare adoption by LGBT couples to a science experiment. (“Children are not puppies”, said the ex-governor, has-been presidential candidate, and…well, nothing in particular at the moment.)

I’m not even remotely interested in adopting children, but for the many, many LGBT couples who are, the process is frustrating, and the rules vary from state to state. Here in Louisiana, we’ve followed Paula Abdul’s example, taking a few steps forward and quite a few back. But now, state representative Juan LaFonta is pushing things back in the direction of the 21st century:

Rep. Juan LaFonta, D-New Orleans, is proposing to expand Louisiana adoption laws with language to recognize as parents both persons in a gay couple.

But LaFonta is not going directly after the provision of Louisiana law that restricts adoption to married couples or single individuals but not unmarried couples. Instead, House Bill 738 would expand the list of eligible persons to petition for “intrafamily” adoptions, those that involve a second adult becoming a legal parent to a child who already has a legal parent in the same family or household….

As with the rest of Louisiana adoption law, the bill does not mention sexual orientation. Gay residents in Louisiana already adopt, but a gay couple — or an unmarried heterosexual couple — must choose just one of the pair to become the legal parent, with the second adult having no legal relationship with the child.

LaFonta added, though, that he does not want the debate to be solely about gay adoption, but instead about expanding opportunities for more children to have a chance at a stable, two-parent home. LaFonta said, “There are too many children who need homes. We’ve got to stop this narrow regulating of what is a family and what’s not.”

[NOLA.com]

So far, the comments on that article aren’t especially bad. But I suppose we should wait for everyone to have a second cup of coffee.