HOW SHE SEES IT Anti-gay bills won't dampen Mother's Day

By ANGELINE ACAIN
KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE
My 8-year-old daughter is the only student in her class who creates two Mother's Day cards. Luckily, she has not experienced any outward discrimination in school for being the only child in her class with two mothers.
We live in New York, and while gays cannot legally marry here, we can legally adopt. In other states that are not as friendly, she might have had a tougher time.
In 2004, 13 states passed anti-gay constitutional amendments. According to the Human Rights Campaign, by March 2005, 21 states considered changes to their constitutions to deny same-sex couples and their children the security and protection of legal marriage.
Nationwide, a rash of bills against gay adoption were recently introduced.
In Arkansas, state Rep. Bob Adams introduced a bill that would prohibit the state from placing children in "homosexual homes."
In Alabama, state Sen. Henry Erwin authored a bill that would prohibit "homosexuals" from adopting.
In Virginia, Delegate Richard Black authored an anti-gay adoption bill.
In Indiana, two anti-gay bills were filed. The first, authored by state Sen. Jeff Drozda, would allow only married couples of the opposite sex to adopt. The second, authored by state Sen. John Waterman, would prohibit gays and lesbians from adopting or serving as foster parents.
In Oregon, state Rep. John Lim introduced a bill designed to limit adoption rights for same-sex couples by requiring the state of Oregon to exercise a preference for married, heterosexual parents over same-sex parents.
Tennessee in lead
Tennessee lawmakers filed eight bills, all designed to prohibit "homosexuals" from adopting or serving as foster parents. What's worse, a bill authored by Rep. Chris Clem and its companion measure authored by Sen. Jim Bryson go even further, seeking to deny non-gay parents the ability to designate a "known homosexual" as the adoptive parents of their children. Another proposed Tennessee bill would prohibit a person from serving as a foster parent if that person is gay or lesbian, or if an adult member of that person's household is gay or lesbian.
Just last month, the Texas House of Representatives voted to ban gay, lesbian and bisexual Texans from serving as foster parents. This legislation also authorizes the state to conduct investigations into the sexual orientation of current foster parents. In addition to the emotional and social cost of destroying families, this legislation would also cost the state as much as $8 million a year to divert scarce state resources to conduct this witch hunt, according to the Family Pride Coalition.
Many lawmakers across the country are staking their political ambitions on the anti-gay hysteria. And they're robbing us of our rights in order to do so.
But despite their efforts, I know my daughter -- along with millions of other children of lesbians -- will enjoy celebrating Mother's Day.
X Angeline Acain is publisher of Gay Parent magazine and New York Gay Parent Guide (www.gayparentmag.com). The writer wrote this for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.