According to a recent survey of 307 state and private adoption agencies, 60 percent of adoption agencies accepted applications from self-identified homosexuals in 1999-2000, and 39 percent of the responding agencies have already have placed children with gay or lesbian parents.

"The vast majority of special needs programs (85.3%) and about two-thirds of international (68.2%) and mixed programs (65.7%) accepted applications from lesbians and gays, while almost half of domestic infant/toddler programs (48%) accepted such applications."

Interestingly, about a quarter of the birth parents objected to the placement of the child with homosexuals.

(Source: David M. Brodzinsky, et al, "Adoption by Lesbians and Gays: A National Survey of Adoption Agency Policies, Practices, and Attitudes," the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, October 29, 2003; http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/whowe/Gay%20and%20Lesbian%20Adoption1.html.)  

"To put it bluntly, this 'survey' is a fraud [ed. note: see "fact" above].  It amounts to little more than propaganda being circulated by the gay community itself, as the first page of the survey's findings clearly says that The Rainbow Endowment -- one of the largest pro-homosexual activist organizations -- funded the study.

...Here's what the science does tell us: Children raised in homosexual households are more likely to experiment with homosexuality, to be sexually promiscuous, and to have behavioral and many other developmental problems [ed note: see abstract below]. Rather than worrying about a homosexual adult's desire to be a parent we should be concerning ourselves with what is in the best interest of the child. "

(Source: Tony Perkins, "Gay Adoption 'Study' is a Fraud," Family Research Council, October 29, 2003; http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=PR03J09.) 

Using content analyses of six clinical studies examining the children of homosexual parents, Paul and Kirk Cameron of the Family Research Institute attempt to answer the following question: "Are the childhoods of children of homosexuals more difficult, and if so, does this greater difficulty appear in the published narratives of such children?" The researchers reply: "The answers to both questions appear to be 'yes.'"

Using material gleaned from the narratives of 52 homosexually parented families, along with case files from 40 appeals court cases involving custody disputes between homosexual and heterosexual parents, the authors were able to draw some significant conclusions as to the nature of childhood problems: "Children mentioned one or more problems or concerns in 48 (92%) of 52 families. Of the 213 score problems, 201 (94%) were attributed to the homosexual parent(s)." Indeed, in the appellate cases, 97% of the harms were attributed to the homosexual parent by the courts.

These are by no means merely abstract "harms"; these are problems with faces. From one twelve-year-old's narrative: "Mum...has had several girlfriends in my lifetime...I don't go around saying that I've got two mums...If we are sitting in a restaurant eating, she'll say, 'I want you to know about all these sex things'. And she'll go on about everything, just shouting it out...sometimes when mum embarrasses me, I think, 'Oh God, I wish I had a dad'..." Multiple permutations of children's embarrassment, harassment, and ostracism are to be found in these reports, and if this were all there was, it would be bad enough. Unfortunately, it is not all, as the boy continues, "...[I've b]een to every gay pride march. Last year, while attending we went up to a field..., when two men came up to us. One man started touching me. I didn't want to go this year because of that."

The researchers report, "Sixteen narratives mentioned parental encouragement to engage in homosexuality or parent-sponsored exposure to homosexuality."

The results of this sort of pressure are sadly predictable. In the family narratives that included adolescent or adult children, 30% of the children were either homosexual or had engaged in homosexual behavior. Furthermore, several children were "unsure" of their sexual orientation, and "[o]lder daughters in at least 8 (27%) of 30 families and older sons in at least 2 (20%) of 10 families described themselves as homosexual or bisexual."

In all six of the analyzed studies, the original authors had concluded that the childhoods of children of homosexual parents were "ordinary," that there are no significant differences between these children and those raised by heterosexual parents. In light of these findings, one has to wonder, with Cameron and Cameron, as to the "'ordinariness' of their lives that [these authors] reported."