Marriage is not adoption

As I commented in my previous post, the Catholic Bishops are protesting marriage equality on the grounds that it will "deprive a child of a mother and a father".  But, as I've said here (and even said over on the USCCB marriage website, go read the comments), that is a non sequitur.  Opposition to marriage in CA, manifested by support of Prop8, has absolutely NO effect on gays adopting or raising children, because CA (and most other states) specifically allow single parents and gay parents to adopt, regardless of marital status.

In the article Under the Gaydar, Alison Gash explains how:

A few decades ago, openly gay and lesbian Americans did not have the legal right to raise their own biological children, much less adopt. Today, more than 25 states recognize the same legal benefits and responsibilities of parenthood regardless of sexual orientation. It is now routine for gays and lesbians to jointly adopt, to be recognized as co-parents, and to collect child support or demand custody or visitation rights—even without a biological connection to the child in question. ... In sharp contrast to marriage equality—where between 1993 and 2003 two pro-marriage rulings incited over 35 state bans—parenting litigation has provoked minimal public backlash.... 

...same-sex parenting rights have successfully advanced precisely because the legal wrangling over them has remained largely below the radar—a fact highlighted by Justice Scalia’s confusion about whether California even permits same-sex adoption during Supreme Court hearings on that state’s Proposition 8. ...This below-the-radar strategy created a foundation of “facts on the ground”—tens of thousands of intact gay and lesbian-headed families with children-well before most conservative activists were even aware the phenomenon existed, making their subsequent efforts to block same-sex parenting an uphill fight..... 

... by the end of 2004, anti-gay rights forces had won measures banning gay marriage in 40 states. Hoping to leverage these gains, pro-family advocates finally turned their attention to parenting. Between 2004 and 2006 the pro-family movement initiated over 35 attempts to limit same-sex parenting. ...

But—happily, for gay rights advocates—the anti-gay forces were too late. Despite dire predictions, very few of these anti-same-sex parenting measures went anywhere. Legislation died in committee and proposed initiatives never made it to the ballot. ...

...As an official at Focus on Family, a conservative Christian advocacy group, concedes, the issue was low on the “radar for pro-family conservatives” because of the “confusing rhetoric of same-sex adoption, the media bombarding the public with images of happy gay couples taking in disadvantaged kids” and the argument that “this kind of family is better than no family.” Adds another opponent, “trying to take the kids away…it’s a ridiculous battle to fight.”

So despite the Roman Catholic Bishops trying to conflate marriage with adoption, that horse is already out of the barn.  And we need to forcefully challenge them every time they try to imply that it is still in the stable.