Scott Chisholm Lamont, RN.

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)O( Green Man

Just fucking evil.

Like I needed another reason to avoid Texas for the rest of my natural life. I lived in Texas for almost a year when I first came to the US, and I was unimpressed, to say the least. Now comes this headline:

Texas Says Gays Can't Be Foster Parents

Texas could become the only state to bar gays from becoming foster parents under legislation passed Wednesday by the House. The ban is part of a bill to revamp the state's Child Protective Services agency. It passed 135-6 with two abstentions and now heads to the Senate. The foster parent amendment is not included in the Senate version of the legislation, but that body could accept the House bill.

"It is our responsibility to make sure that we protect our most vulnerable children, and I don't think we are doing that if we allow a foster parent that is homosexual or bisexual," said Republican Rep. Robert Talton, who introduced the amendment.

Protect them from WHAT, exactly? Personally, I would like to see them protected from ignorant, homophobic attitudes like the ones so prominently on display in the Texas House. I would like to see them protected from the type of evil that Talton seems so intent on spreading.

What do I mean by evil? I define it as a profound lack of Love. Not love in the romantic sense of the word, but Love in the spiritual sense - that basic recognition of and connection with the fundamental value and worth inherent in another being. Talton and his ilk claim concern for "the children", yet it seems obvious to me that the real motivating factor for their actions is a deep hatred for queer folk, which leads them to try to exclude queers from public life and meaningful social contribution in every conceivable way. Of course, they have to hide their efforts behind a facade of protecting innocents, or defending traditional values, or some other relatively unassailable effort. If they came right out and said: "Deny queers opportunity, deny queers legal protection, deny queers the right to have sexual relations or form adult relationships", the lack of Love.....in other words, evil.....would be obvious, and the majority of people would recoil from it. So, the actions they propose are not only evil, they are disingenuous.

The kids in the foster system of any state need shelter, security, consistency, guidance, and connection with genuinely concerned adults. They need people who act out of Love. Considering the difficulty of the work and the shortage of homes that will take in foster children, legislators should be shouting praises for foster parents of any creed or persuasion, not to mention passing budgets that improve support for foster families and the agencies that supervise them. However, it seems that sort of true concern for the welfare of the "most vulnerable children" is unlikely to make an appearance in Texas any time soon.