“Last year, 29,471 children turned 18 and left the foster care system without an adoptive family” (“Adoption” 1). Unfortunately for those young adults, knowing the comfort of a stable family was not part of their childhood. Though there is a high demand for children to be adopted, the reality is many are not being adopted. Furthermore, even though there are children that need a good home, state governments are purposely making laws that prohibit certain groups of people from adopting children. States like Florida and Mississippi are both culprits. Two groups that are especially being targeted by unfair laws are gays and lesbians. These unfair laws are clear discrimination, and they should be put to an end immediately. Therefore, gays and lesbians should be allowed to adopt children for various reasons.
   

 To commence, each year, thousands of children are not adopted. Because of this, the children are the ones who really suffer. If states limit the groups of people allowed to adopt children, then more and more children will not have a family. According to the text, “There are 423,773 children in the U.S. foster care system; 114,556 of these children are available for adoption. Their birth parent’s legal rights have been permanently terminated and children are left without a family” (“Adoption” 1). There are at least 114,556 children in the U.S. foster care system waiting and waiting and waiting for a family to take them home. By precluding gays and lesbians from adopting them, the children will be without a home for their whole adolescent life. In addition, there are gay and lesbian couples where one of the partners has a child from a previous marriage or relationship. Even in this case, the non-biological parent cannot adopt the child, and this leads to further suffering for the children. In the article, “Final Holdout on Same-Sex Adoption”, the author, Tamar Lewin, states, “Hannah Marie Phillips makes the same point, in her 8-year-old fashion: ‘We want the other name on the birth certificate like my first mom, because both of my moms want to be a mommy,’ she said” (2). The interview of a little girl, Hannah Marie Phillips, explains that even she does not feel like her mothers are receiving the justice they deserve. When the children are suffering too, something is definitely wrong.
     

Additionally, gays and lesbians should have freedom of choice. Not allowing gays and lesbians to adopt children is pure discrimination. The article, “Justice Leave Fla. Ban on Adoption by Gays Intact”, comments that “...although Florida bans gay men and lesbians from adopting, it does not specifically exclude unmarried people or certain applicants who might pose a serious threat to children, such as substance abusers and people with a history of domestic violence” (Biskupic 1). People who could pose a physical or emotional threat can adopt children, yet gays and lesbians cannot. What sense does this make? The answer is that it does not make sense. Loving gay and lesbian couples with amiable personalities are willing to adopt foster children, yet they are not allowed because of the extreme discrimination they are being faced with. Another example of discrimination for gays and lesbians happened when a lesbian couple, Kari Lunsford and Tinora Sweeten-Lunsford, went to adopt a child but were told they “...were not eligible because they were lesbians” (Lewin 2). The article later went on to explain that they could potentially adopt a special needs child, but “...only if they lived apart for at least six months while a home study was completed, and only if one of them adopted as a single person” (Lewin 2). One can clearly see the standards made for gays and lesbians who want to adopt children are extreme and inane. The level of discrimination that the social workers and adoption agencies are putting forth towards gays and lesbians is unreal. What is the reason they have for discriminating against gays and lesbians? There is no reason.
     

Finally, gays and lesbians should be allowed to adopt children because they are simply people just like everyone else. Banning gays and lesbians from adopting children is a violation of their rights. Opponents will argue that it is not a violation of their rights because “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit sided with Florida after the statute was challenged as a violation of constitutional equality and due process of law...Florida’s claim that the law is part of a broader adoption policy ‘designed to create adoptive homes that resemble the nuclear family as closely as possible’” (Biskupic 1). The state of Florida made the gay adoption ban because they wanted every child adopted to have a mother and father (Biskupic 1). Although they may think it is in the best interest of the children, it is not. In an interview with Willie Hawkins and Krik Musselman, a gay couple, they said they had been waiting for the day when they could adopt an eleven-year-old boy named Logan who had been living with them since the day he was born (Ritchie 2). The pair insists that “Officially adopting Logan...made them into something they all wanted: a family. The action somehow squared their lives and made things right for the two” (Ritchie 2). Both the pair and the child, Logan, wanted to be in that family, so it really was not a problem for Logan. Even Logan’s friends thought that having two dads instead of one dad and one mom was okay and was not strange at all (Ritchie 2). This interview makes clear that the argument saying a nuclear family is better for the children is faulty. Two moms or two dads are just as great as one mom and one dad.
   

 In summation, lesbians and gays are people just like everyone else, people who want to adopt a child in need, and they should be allowed to without fear of discrimination. Every passing year, thousands, even tens of thousands of children go unadopted, and by limiting gays and lesbians from adopting the children, one is limiting the chances that the children have for a family. Furthermore, lebians and gays should be able to have their freedom of choice without discrimination, and lesbians and gays are simply normal human beings, like one’s next door neighbor. Why limit their rights when all they have are good intentions? If gays and lesbians can officially adopt in all of the states, then maybe, just maybe, every child will have a warm, loving family to come home to everyday and hear the three words every child yearns to hear; “I love you”.