no good news, either being true or not...

[rayosytruenos]

I found some news that makes more difficult for the GLBT community to be accepted as "normal". Be the news true or not, it does almost the same damage to the community.

http://newsbox.msn.co.uk/article.aspx?as=adimarticle&f=uk_-_olgbtopnews&t=4023&id=3064830&d=20060623&do=http://newsbox.msn.co.uk&i=http://newsbox.msn.co.uk/mediaexportlive&ks=0&mc=5&ml=ma&lc=en&ae=windows-1252

For the wellbeing of the kids, I hope that either it's not true, or that they haven't suffered deeply and can develop without any trauma in later life.

All the best,

ray :male:

[wildangel]

I think it is so pathetic that the only news stories you ever hear of about homosexual couples is negative. Has anyone ever opened up the paper or turned on the evening news where a story similar to this aired:

"GAY COUPLE LOVINGLY ADOPTS CHILDREN AND doesn't HAVE SEX WITH THEM!"

Okay, so maybe that was a little bitter, but seriously. Why is ALL gay news negative? Aren't there any mainstream news agencies who seek to report positive news reports as well?

With that said, it also seems like ALL news recently is negative, so maybe it's not just aimed at gay couples but humans in general. :2cents:

[julie]

It is true... they have been found guilty and sent to prison http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/5109518.stm

.....but before you become too desolate Ray, do remember, at least to my knowledge, this is the first case of 'gay parents', foster or otherwise, to have been convicted of child sexual abuse to a child they have parental responsibility for...

.....i too was horrified when i read this case... and yet need to remember that the authorities who accepted this couple as 'suitable' carers are the ones responsible for placing these children in a catastrophicly unsafe enviroment... tragically.

....yes there will be knee-jerk reactions, of course.. yet this couple failed the chidren in their care because they are paedophiles NOT because they happen to be a same sex couple.. i suspect (having had some previous experience of working in child protection) that the statistics of child sex abuse from hetrosexual carers will be disturbingly high.. because adult 'carers' sometimes do sexually abuse children.. and paedophiles will occasionally slip the net, with devastating consequences for the children supposedly in their care..

....like you, i just hope the children are now in a safe enough environment to receive appropriate support to begin to heal from their horrific ordeal...

...Julie :female: :2cents:

P.s. I think the judges summing up comments on this case are particularly telling.. and encouraging for the wider LGBT community:-

'The judge said neither of the men had shown any "empathy, remorse or any responsibility for their actions".

Referring to Faunch's abuse of a 14-year-old boy, she said: "You, Craig Faunch, chose to victimise and abuse that boy, showing the very depths in my view of what you are prepared to do.

"You saw him as the ideal victim. You are presented as a couple but this is not about homosexuality, it is about abuse of trust."

[arana]

It's sad because this will give ammunition to those who want to say Gays are nothing but sexual deviants and this is a prime example.....However, they didn't do this because they were gay, they did it because they are sick. When a straight person commits these types of acts towards children I don't hear anything like, "oh he did it because he was straight." The worst is when it's a straight male and the wife or someone will say (if it's a pretty female), "she was asking for it". I don't know many people let alone children that "ask" to be abused.
Ok, off my :soapbox:

[JohnnyV]

Ditto what everyone has said.

Ray, I don't know about the UK, but in the US, foster care scams are common. I'm saddened by the sad fact that so many children exist in the foster care system and can't get to loving parents who could help them.

My greatest fear, reading this case, is that other gay couples will be scared away from foster care and will opt, instead, to try to buy newborns any way they can, even if it means dealing with shady adoption rackets overseas. We had a thread about this on here a few months ago.

I think gay male couples are much better off adopting foster kids instead of trying to get sole guardian rights over someone else's newborn (as if it's the purchase of property). But, as this case shows, it is complicated when you deal with foster care.

At the same time, Ray, I would urge you not to fall into the trap of fearing that any bad behavior among gays or bisexuals means that we're all doomed. Get used to the fact that some people in our demographic have serious failings. Frankly, there are MANY gay men who've told me they want to adopt a baby and inside I say, "there is NO way that guy should adopt." It gets sticky when people can't separate the political from the personal issue. Many gay couples are unfit to be parents -- and sometimes, when people fight for adoption rights in the abstract sense, we risk losing sight of that.

Also, I'd add that I fear the way marriage rights and adoption rights have been tied together so closely when people talk about gay and lesbian rights. They are really two very different issues, and I think that gay advocates need to make room for some people to agree with tthem about gay marriage while holding some reservations about the logistics of gay adoption.

J

[meteast chick]

You must go to my myspace page,
www.myspace.com/rachelle77
,and read my last blog entry.

What it deals with is a Primetime special I watched about adoption and kids in the foster care system. Among these children was a young man who was eventually adopted by a gay couple. He was very happy and proudly exclaimed "I could care less if they are 2 men, 2 women, or 1 of each. Just the fact that they love me is what matters to me. " He was 14 when they interviewed him, but had been adopted for at least 5 or 6 years. It just goes to show you that it matters not what sexuality the adopting or foster parents are, but their hearts. Don't GET me started about the anti-gay marriage proposal by our beloved (gag) Pres. Bush.

luv and kisses,
xoxoxoxoxo
meteast

[Avocado]

We must be willing to accept that when something like this happens it will be in the news, whether the abuser is straight or queer. There are plenty of queerphobic crimes reported in the news so it's not a question of bias. With regards to queer adoption, I don't think the law is ready yet. We need proper gay marriage, equal treatment to teachers with regards to whether they can or cannot promote homosexuality/bisexuality and/or heterosexuality. Granted children fostered by black parents used to get bullied in schools, but the least we can ask is that kids grow up in a world where the law doesn't teach them that not being straight is bad and/or deviant. In my eyes, then, only then, will it be fair for a child to be fostered by a same-sex couple.

[Haemoglobin]

When a straight person commits these types of acts towards children I don't hear anything like, "oh he did it because he was straight."
you got the best point in here . . i mean how often do we read about this things happening with straight people ? every damned day i would guess .
but i wouldnt pay attention to any discrimination of gay or bisexual people in newspaper articles or in news on tv at all normally. . :(

[jedinudist]

I think it is so pathetic that the only news stories you ever hear of about homosexual couples is negative. Has anyone ever opened up the paper or turned on the evening news where a story similar to this aired:

"GAY COUPLE LOVINGLY ADOPTS CHILDREN AND doesn't HAVE SEX WITH THEM!"

Okay, so maybe that was a little bitter, but seriously. Why is ALL gay news negative? Aren't there any mainstream news agencies who seek to report positive news reports as well?

With that said, it also seems like ALL news recently is negative, so maybe it's not just aimed at gay couples but humans in general. :2cents:

or all the "hetersosexual" couples that molest and abuse the children placed into their care. There was a couple here in the US recently that was found to have actually CAGED the children in their care like stray animals! There were even alarms on the cages in case a child attempted escape (like to go to the damned bathroom!!!!)

Even if those two guys actually did what they are accused of, the right wingers are going to play it up like all hell while of course, ignoring the hundreds- if not thousands of cases involving "heterosexual" couples - especially the religious ones!

ok, ok - done ranting now :)

[Avocado]

If that's what happens then so be it. We can't just expect these things to not be reported.