Dr. George Rekers, a Minister and Psychologist, has thrust himself into the public light this week as a hypocrite. Professionally, he has campaigned tirelessly against homosexuality: gay marriage; gay adoption and foster parenting; and the gay lifestyle in general – testifying as an expert witness in highly visible court cases. He is likewise on the Board of NARTH [National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality] and was a co-founder of the Family Research Council, an anti-gay organization. Personally, he was recently on vacation with a gay prostitute/escort – raising questions about his own sexual orientation which obviously bears on his professional opinions.
Rekers has testified in suits in Arkansas and Florida opposing gay adoption/fostering based on "scientific evidence." The Attorney that hired Rekers and the Judge in the case both saw his testimony as suspect [which it is]. I’ve extracted the outline of his logic from his Arkansas deposition at the end of this post. Acceptance as adoptive/fostering parents is a rigorous though subjective process for heterosexual couples, but there are a few objective disqualifiers. People with a criminal history, with significant mental illness, or with pedophillia are rejected outright. Rekers argues that homosexuals should be in this forbidden group.
There is no science in any of this, mostly opinion, and the logic is intrinsically flawed. But there are a couple of things that stand out. He talks about "homosexually-behaving adults." When he mentions "homosexuals" or "homosexual adults," it’s in the context of being their defective. In light of his own behavior, one can only imagine how much rationalization he goes through internally to explain himself to himself.
Homosexually-behaving adults inherently suffer significantly and substantially higher rates of psychological disorder, suicidal ideation, suicidal attempt, completed suicide, conduct disorder, and substance abuse; therefore, as a group, households with a resident homosexually-behaving adult are substantially less capable of providing the best psychologically stable and secure home environments that are especially needed by foster children who generally have higher rates of psychological disorder than other children [evidence cited above]. Further, households headed by a homosexual generally receive less social support from neighbors and extended families than heterosexual headed homes.
| I. The inherent nature and structure of households with a homosexually-behaving adult uniquely endangers foster children by exposing them to a substantial level of harmful stresses that are over and above usual stress levels in heterosexual foster homes. | ||
| A. [Foster] Children are More Vulnerable to Harm from Stress than Other Children | ||
| B. Higher Rates of Psychological Disorder and Substance Abuse in Homosexuals Exposes Child to Harmful Stress | ||
| C. The Widespread Disapproval of Homosexual Behavior Exposes Child to Harmful Stress | ||
| D. CONCLUSION: Foster Placement in Qualified Heterosexual Families Eliminates the Unique Harmful Stressors That are Inherent to a Home with a Homosexual Adult | ||
| II. Homosexual partner relationships are significantly and substantially less stable and more short-lived on the average compared to a marriage of a man and a woman, thereby inevitably contributing to a substantially higher rate of household transitions in foster homes with a homosexually-behaving adult. | ||
| A. Inherent Relative Instability of Partner Relationships with Homosexually-Behaving Adults | ||
| B. Homosexuals are Inherently Less Capable of Providing a Psychologically Stable Home | ||
| C. Greater Instability of Households with a Homosexual Adult Risks Harm of More Foster Child Transitions | ||
| E. CONCLUSION: Qualified Heterosexual Families Provide the Greater Stability that a Foster Child Needs that a Household with a Homosexual Adult Inherently Cannot Provide | ||
| III. The inherent structure of foster-parent households with one or more homosexually-behaving members deprives foster children of vitally needed positive contributions to child adjustment that are only present in licensed heterosexual foster homes. | ||
| A. The Effects of the Structure of Potential Types of Foster Families Must be Considered to Determine the Environment that is Best for Promoting the Well-Being of Foster Children | ||
| B. Only a Home With a Mother and Father Provides the Best Set of Role Models that Can Best Meet the Unique Needs of a Foster Child | ||
| C. Only a Home With a Mother and Father Provides the Unique Positive Benefits of Both a Father and Mother that Are Particularly Needed by Foster Children | ||
| 1. The Unique Contributions of the Father to Child Development and Adjustment | ||
| 2. The Unique Contributions of the Mother to Child Development and Adjustment | ||
| 3. The Unique Benefits of the Combination of a Mother and Father for Foster Child Development and Adjustment | ||
| D. Existing Studies Comparing Homosexual Parenting to Heterosexual Parenting Fails to Investigate These Structural Deficits of Homosexual Households and the Effects of Stress and Stigma on Children | ||
| C. The Best Child Adjustment and Well-Being Results from Parenting from Married Couples | ||
| D. CONCLUSION: Qualified Married Couples Provide for Critical Needs of Foster Children That a Household with a Homosexual Adult is Inherently Unable to Provide | ||
| OVERALL CONCLUSION: | ||
| The Arkansas Regulation Eliminates Avoidable Stressors, Avoidable Instability, and Avoidable Deprivations and Requiring the Foster Parents to be Heterosexual is in the Best Interests of Foster Children | ||
| Appendix | ||
| Probable Additional Household Transitions due to Higher Risk of Hebephilia by Homosexual Adults | ||
| [1] As stated by Paul and colleagues in a research review introducing their own study, research investigations have reported, “Males who have been sexually abused are more apt than their female counterparts to exhibit aggressive, hostile behavior, and to victimize others, possibly due to identifying with the aggressor | ||
| [2] Homosexual adult males are more likely to view an adolescent male to be a desired sexual partner than a heterosexual adult male would be likely to view an adolescent female to be a desired sexual partner. | ||
| Possible Harms from Conflicting Sex Role Models of Homosexual Parents | ||
| gender identification. | ||
| sexual identification. | ||
| gender roles. | ||
1 Boring Old Man » rekers-think?…
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