While I do not wish to doubt the sincerity of Paul Sorensen’s claim (Noozhawk, “Commentary: Proposition 8 Ensures Equality For All Children”) that his opposition to same-sex marriage is based wholly on his concern for children, his argument in support of his position is fundamentally flawed.

Sorensen claims that same-sex marriage would “create fatherless and motherless homes every day” by placing adopted children into the homes of same-sex married couples. However well intentioned it may be, the argument doesn’t square with reality.

Children who are up for adoption are already in fatherless and motherless homes. According to the Child Welfare Research Center, there were 78,278 foster children in California as of July 2006. These children are being raised without fathers or mothers, and with no certainty of where they will live from one year to the next.

So, it is not the case, as Sorensen’s argument suggests, that there is an overabundance of heterosexual couples waiting to adopt these children, and that same-sex couples would be “competing” for the right to do so. To the contrary, there are far more foster children than could ever be adopted by willing heterosexual couples. So, for every same-sex couple prevented from adopting, there is at least one more child left to grow up in the foster care system, denied the fundamental right to be raised in a loving, stable environment by two married parents.

If saying no to bigotry against same-sex couples isn’t enough to get you to the polls, please take Sorensen’s advice and think of the children. Vote no on Proposition 8.

David Andreasen
Santa Barbara