Blocked!

Marriage equality is a done deal… wrong!

Many states do not have laws about same sex couples to adoptions or take materially leave. The National Center for Lesbian Right reports says that,

When a legally married couple has a child, they are both automatically presumed to be the legal parents of the child. This means that, if they get divorced, they both remain legal parents unless a court terminates one or both of their parental rights. This presumption applies to same-sex parents when children are born to couples who are married or where their state recognizes their civil union or comprehensive domestic partnership at the time the child is born. Most states have not yet addressed this issue directly, but every state that has considered this question in its highest court has held that the marital presumption and assisted reproduction provisions apply equally to same-sex spouses, and a number of states have changed their statutes to be gender neutral.

[...]

 Regardless of whether you are married or in a civil union or comprehensive domestic partnership, NCLR always encourages non-biological and non-adoptive However, six states currently permit private child placement agencies to discriminate based on their religious beliefs while still operating under a state license, and in some of these states, while receiving state funding. Laws in Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Virginia, Alabama, and Texas allow private child placement agencies to refuse to provide services based on the agency’s religious beliefs. Mississippi previously passed a bill permitting this kind of discrimination, but a federal district court declared the bill unconstitutional.

It is a hodgepodge of state laws and the red states are dragging their feet to change their laws so that means court cases. Connecticut has passed laws giving the same rights to all couples but some states still, for example the state of Hawaii only allows maternity level for women, that means a gay couple are not eligible for maternity for a new born or an adoption.

NCLR report goes on to say,

Mississippi recently passed a law that may allow adoption service providers to refuse to place children with lesbian and gay single parents or couples if it would burden the exercise of their religion. There is currently a case pending challenging Nebraska’s policy that excludes lesbian and gay parents from being foster or adoptive placements for children in state care.

So we are seeing barriers being placed in the way of same-sex marriages.

LGBTQ advocates regroup on paid parental leave after Biden's safety net bill stalls
NBC News
By Jacob Fulton
January 29, 2022


The Rev. Richard Weinberg, an Episcopalian rector in Washington, D.C., was surprised to find that his diocese didn’t have a policy for paid parental leave when he began preparing to adopt a child with his partner last year.

[…]

Weinberg’s experience is common in the LGBTQ community, advocacy groups and think tanks studying the issue say. According to a 2020 study by the Census Bureau, same-sex couples are more than four times as likely as opposite-sex couples to adopt children — and more than twice as likely to foster children. But the policies vary by employer and are applied inconsistently, according to studies of the issue.

[…]

LGBTQ advocates hope that polls showing broad support for paid parental leave will create momentum for legislative action. Eighty-four percent of voters — including majorities of Democrats, independents and Republicans — support a paid family leave policy, according to a 2018 study from the National Partnership for Women and Families, an advocacy group focused on the issue.

[…]

Policies also don’t cover sexual orientations and gender identities equally. A 2018 survey by the Human Rights Campaign found fewer than half of LGBTQ respondents said their employers' leave policies were LGBTQ-inclusive. Respondents also expressed concern about potentially outing themselves or encountering workplace discrimination when asking for leave, the survey found.

As I mentioned there is no impetus by the Republican states to change their laws, same-sex couple have to drag the state to court to change their laws on adoption or in vitro fertilization. It will take a federal law.

For Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., the issue is personal. Craig, who co-chairs the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus and is one of two LGBTQ parents in Congress, said the complexities that same-sex couples face in becoming parents have shown the importance of a uniform paid leave policy.

LGBTQ people face a wide range of barriers when starting families, Craig said. One such circumstance occurred when her wife adopted their first child — even though she was married to the primary adoptee, Craig had to file for second-parent adoption, a practice in place in many states.

Across the nation, nearly 20 states, primarily led by Republicans, have not passed protections against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexuality in adoption, according to the Movement Advancement Project, a think tank focused on promoting equal rights.

If it one thing that LGBTQ know how to do better than anyone else is fight for their human rights!

Oh and for trans couple you might think that this only applies to lesbians and gays, well I got news for you, when you transition you are now in a same-sex marriage (Unless you were in a same-sex marriage before your transition).