For years, in certain parts of California, gays and lesbians have been adopting children, both as individuals and as couples. The Department Of Social Services often encouraged gays and lesbians to be foster parents, and then progressed to encouraging them to adopt their foster children.

To get around certain laws, the Department Of Social Services would report to the judge that though they could not recommend this person or couple due to their sexual orientation, if they could ... and then they would go on to recommend them highly. The judge would then make their ruling based upon the high recommendation -- everyone ignoring the fact that the parent(s) was/were homosexual.

Enter Pete Wilson as newly elected California Governor, a Republican with presidential aspirations and looking to make a stand supporting his more conservative constituents. In 1995 Gov. Wilson discovered what was happening in the family courts with Gays/Lesbians adopting babies and children. Being the religious right toady that he is, he signed an order that strictly forbade the Department Of Social Services from recommending gays/lesbians or any single individual as adoptive parents.

Suffice it to say, Gov. Wilson's action hurt not only Gays/Lesbians and other [legally recognized] unmarried adults who wished to adopt, but also the children who had been hoping to be adopted.

Thankfully, Pete Wilson is no longer Governor of the State of California. Gray Davis, a democrat, was voted into office in 1998.

With the change in political climate, attorneys representing gay and lesbian groups challenged the regulation early in 1999, and the State Department of Social Services concluded the policy "did not go through the proper legal process," said agency spokeswoman Sidonie Squier.

On November 18, 1999, Gov. Gray Davis rescinded Gov. Wilson's order. Yet that does not mean Davis will support adoption by Gay/Lesbian couples, said spokesman Michael Bustamante.

"The previous administration took a position on adoptions. This administration is not," he said. "This governor has made the determination that the professionals, not the state, are best suited to decide" [which couples are suitable adoptive parents].

I guess that is better than nothing...

Until next time...