Understand The Times, International

SACRAMENTO � Facing a $42 billion deficit and a state debt that grows by $28,000 every minute, California has managed to find enough room in its budget to sponsor an elaborate statewide campaign to promote homosexual adoption.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has partnered with the California Department of Social Services and the Los Angeles County to promote a "Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Family" campaign that invites homosexuals, bisexuals and transsexuals to adopt children. Proponents claim sexual orientation shouldn't be an issue because thousands of kids need loving homes.

"They provide loving, stable and permanent homes for kids who need them," Robyn Harrod, spokeswoman for Southern California Adoption Agency, told Los Angeles' ABC 7 News. "And, it makes absolutely no difference whether they are gay, straight, single, married ... They just need to love kids and want to provide a home for them."

The Campaign for Children and Families cited a 2001 University of Southern California "study of studies" on raising children in same-sex families titled, "(How) Does the Sexual Orientation of Parents Matter?" The campaign includes the following discoveries by sociology professors Judith Stacey and Timothy Blibarz on its website:

A significantly greater proportion of young adult children raised by lesbian mothers than those raised by heterosexual mothers say they have experienced sexual intimacy with a partner of the same sex. They were not, however, statistically more likely to identify themselves as gay or lesbian.
Young girls raised by lesbians are more likely to be sexually adventurous and active than their counterparts raised by heterosexual parents. However the sons of lesbians exhibit "an opposite pattern" and are likely to be less adventurous and active than boys raised by heterosexual households.
Lesbian mothers reported that their children behave in ways that do not conform to "sex-typed cultural norms." And the sons of lesbians are reportedly less likely to behave in traditionally masculine ways than those raised by heterosexual couples.

"God created fathers and mothers so that children could have the best chance at life," he said. "Studies show that children raised in homosexual and transsexual households are highly likely to experience sexual confusion and to act out homosexually, bisexually and transsexually when they otherwise would not."

Thomasson continued, "When the facts confirm that children do best with a married father and mother, there is no reason other than selfishness for anyone to advocate placing vulnerable children into these sexually confused and sexually charged environments."