Australian Gay parents welcomed. Just not for adoption

Katherine Eastaughffe and Una Harkin are lesbians.

They’re also mothers, to six-month-old Daniel, whom Katherine gave birth to after undergoing fertility treatment.

The Queensland Government has no problem with lesbians using IVF to have children.

Neither do they have a problem with taking on Katherine and Una as registered foster carers.

But they draw the line at gay adoption, meaning Una cannot be legally recognised as one of Daniel’s parents.

The Bligh Government’s refusal to consider same sex adoption is being used as part of a renewed push for federal laws preventing discrimination against gays and lesbians.

A Galaxy poll released today reveals 85% of Australians support the case for a national law on the issue.

Ms Eastaughffe told brisbanetimes.com.au the State Government’s Adoption Bill 2009, reintroduced to Parliament in April, was clearly discriminatory.

“It was a joint decision to have Daniel. He is very much both of ours,” Ms Eastaughffe said.

“If Una was a man, there’d be no issue either way. Either by having her name on the birth certificate or by being able to adopt him as a step-parent.

“It doesn’t make sense to me. A man might not be the biological father but he is still treated as the parent, but not if it’s a woman who’s the “non-biological parent”. That just seems outright discrimination.”

See Gay parents welcomed. Just not for adoption

Brisbane Times

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Homosexual behaviour widespread in animals according to new study

The pairing of same sex couples had previously been observed in more than 1,000 species including penguins, dolphins and primates.

However, in the latest study the authors claim the phenomenon is not only widespread but part of a necessary biological adaptation for the survival of the species.

They found that on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, almost a third of the Laysan albatross population is raised by pairs of two females because of the shortage of males. Through these ‘lesbian’ unions, Laysan albatross are flourishing. Their existence had been dwindling before the adaptation was noticed.

Other species form same-sex bonds for other reasons, they found. Dolphins have been known engage in same-sex interactions to facilitate group bonding while male-male pairings in locusts killed off the weaker males.

A pair of “gay” penguins recently hatched an egg at a German zoo after being given the egg that had been rejected by its biological parents by keepers.

Writing in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, Dr Nathan Bailey, an evolutionary biologist at California University, said previous studies have failed to consider the evolutionary consequences of homosexuality.

He said same homosexual behaviour was often a product of natural selection to further the survival of the species.

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Homosexual behaviour widespread in animals according to new study

Telegraph.co.uk

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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/homosexual-be…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender marriages thrive

This spring my life-partner and I are celebrating our 10th anniversary together. While some might say that 10 years of marriage is no big deal — even in this age of high divorce rates — clearly it is a milestone year, and especially for a gay couple like us. I should note from the start that I do not place marriage in quotation marks, as though ours somehow doesn’t measure up; our marriage is different in some ways and very much the same in others, but it is certainly not less. We know what a precious gift we have in each other.
Our love and commitment, in fact, are as strong and vital as in the best heterosexual marriages, often more so.
Why? Because like all successful lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) marriages, ours thrives despite formidable odds, any one of which would crush many heterosexual marriages. Little wonder LGBT friends and acquaintances tell us our 10 years is actually twenty, even 30 — in straight years.
No one should be surprised by this perception. In place of the myriad ways that heterosexual marriages are incorporated, supported, celebrated and promoted ours’ are denied, excluded, discouraged and condemned. Marriage of any type is, of course, not always easy, even if strong and under the best of circumstances. Imagine for a moment though people praying for your marriage to fail; widespread preaching and protesting against it; laws and constitutional amendments enacted that are overtly hostile to your family; hospitals blocking you from your spouse’s bedside; having your children torn from your life when your spouse, the biological parent, dies; or being unable to carry out your spouse’s final wishes. I could easily go on, and on.
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