Texas attempts to ban gay and bisexual foster parents
Texas state representative Robert Talton (R-Pasadena) fears a caregiver can unduly shape a child's sexual orientation.His solution: Ban gay and bisexual persons from serving as foster parents.
"What I'm trying to protect [children] from," he says in today's Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "is learned behavior. I think we should expose them to the straight life* as much as we can."
Sexual expression is shaped by cultural models and expectations. That's true.
But bigotry is learned behavior too--and role models contribute more to children's hateful attitudes than to their sexual orientations.
So while we're legislating who should and should not influence children as foster parents, do you think Talton can find a way to block bigots too?
If we can't keep them out of office, we can at least keep them away from impressionable kids.
*I'm curious about what behaviors are included in the "straight life" Talton values so strongly. Would he consider rape within marriage and gender inequality--two shining aspects of some heterosexual relationships--to be non-problematic behaviors for foster children to learn? If I'm not mistaken, straight parents, not gays, starved their 9 year old to death in an Arlington apartment last year.
.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Wednesday, April 20, 2005