Crazy World: Pope Francis May Push Gay Civil Unions, American Academy Of Pediatrics Says Gay Marriage Good for Kids
Photo Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP
By Cheryl K. Chumley. Gay rights supporters may have found a friend in Pope Francis.
Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio — now Pope Francis — came out in support of civil unions for gay couples in 2010, Newser reports. It was during a time of spiritual chaos in Argentina, as the church there was battling attempts to legalize gay marriage. And Cardinal Bergoglio came forward with what he described as the “lesser of two evils” solution, Newser reports.
“He wagered on a position of greater dialogue with society,” his authorized biographer says, in the Newser report. He publicly criticized the gay marriage bill winding through Argentina’s legislature, but quietly supported same-sex union rights.
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Gay marriage is good for kids: American Academy of Pediatrics.
By Cheryl Wetzstein. The nation’s largest pediatricians’ group said Thursday that it supports gay marriage, noting that, to a child, the parents’ sexual orientation is not as important as other elements related to family well-being.
If a child has two living and capable parents who want to marry, it is in the best interests of the child that legal and social institutions allow and support the parents to do so, “irrespective of their sexual orientation,” the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) said in its new policy statement.
Therefore, AAP “supports marriage equality for all capable and consenting adults, including those who are of the same gender, as a means of guaranteeing all federal and state rights and benefits and long-term security for their children.”
Adoption placements and foster parenting also should be conducted without regard to sexual orientation of the parents, the academy added.
The announcement comes less than a week before the U.S. Supreme Court considers two cases that will determine whether the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8, which each define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, are constitutional.
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