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"Please save my children from puffs"

07:43 / 16.10.02

I had to admit, at first I thought it was a TVGoHome style joke. A press release from The Christian Institute based in Newcastle, attached to which was an organ-donor type card in red and blue.

The card reads: ADOPTION CARD - In the event of my death I do not want my children to be adopted by homosexuals.

On the back is a space for the names (Mr and Mrs!) of the parents, and a reiteration: Under no circumstances do we want our children adopted by a homosexual couple, signed: father____________, Mother ___________.

But apparently it isn't a joke. It's real.

Wow.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

07:56 / 16.10.02

Soon to follow: Conservative Party cards requiring adoptive parents to be white, middle class, and have gone to a decent public school.

08:03 / 16.10.02

I need to think and make a more coherent response, but my first reaction to this is to - literally - piss myself laughing. Thanks, Sax, you've made my day!

It does remind me in a roundabout way of the Thatchcard that was available in the 80s that read "In the event of me being a victim of a major disaster and injured in hospital, on no account am I to be visited by Margaret Thatcher".

Proper and serious thoughts on this later.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

08:41 / 16.10.02

That can't be real. Surely.

The Natural Way

08:44 / 16.10.02

How paranoid would you have to be......

09:26 / 16.10.02

Thats Newcastle upon Tyne UK? Right.
Hmmm you get quite a lot of small and quite out there relgious groups up north, these lot probably weren't given enough attention as children.
When I was working for a local council they would beaten down doors to find any kind of parents willing to adopt from what I heard. As long as they were a stable family they didn't care too much what they were.

10:48 / 16.10.02

I take it 'invisible al' is a southerner. The sort who thinks we are all interbread freaks from Royston Vasey up here.

Sorry Al I'm sure I'm being unfair to you. I'm just picking up on your comment about the North.

It just gets on my nerves how a lot of people in the South think they are radical, anti-racist and open minded but feel free to make comments about anyone north of Birmingham as long as they are not part of any minority group.

I was in a pub in Hastings once and there was a group of people sat near me talking about politics. I was impressed that they were having a serious chat about some important issues. They were talking about the stereotypical way many minority groups are portrayed by the media. They were all chipping in with anti-racist comments etc. About 15 min. later the conversation had changed to (of all things) coronation street and one of them made a joke comment about Northerners all being racist, backward and interbread. It was nothing serious and said in jest but these same people would never have joked about blacks, asians, homosexuals etc. in the same way. This isn't the only time I have heard such things being said. I heard something similar at a march in London last year.

I'm not saying this is typical of people in the South and I know people in the North say stereotypical things about people in the South but when so called politcal radicals do it I get pissed-off about it.

So 'invisble al' I don't mean to have a go at you but your comment about these religous groups was a bit silly. Crazy religious groups are everywhere not just in the North England.

Rant Over

The Natural Way

10:57 / 16.10.02

Hastings... How I love it. I live next door and, let me tell you, I know from first hand experience that there's as much retardation in the south as there is anywhere else.

Villagers man, I tells ya... And the towns of the south coast are full of them. Time is slower in the rural zones.

11:03 / 16.10.02

“I’m not in favour of gay couples seeking to adopt children because I question whether that is the right start in life."

That's a quote from Jack Straw, Foreign Secretary for the British Government.

I've been checking out the Christian Institute's website and, inevitably, I'm not laughing anymore. They've got quite a campaign (posters, leaflets etc) going against gay couples adopting kids. Obviously, I take this kind of thing personally so it's difficult to analyse it as clinically as I'd like, but their arguement all seems to be about stability, and the supposed lack of it in gay relationships. Offering children loving homes - whatever the setup - appears to be way down the list of priorities, and that makes me sad and very angry.

I believe the House of Commons is voting on this today or tomorrow, and I expect that if it goes through, the Lords may well block it. I'm not sure what difference the death of Baroness Young will make to this, hopefully a lot, but I wouldn't bet on it.

How can this kind of thing be countered? They have the financial backing and a lot of the press on their side. I wish I knew the way forward.

11:14 / 16.10.02

Well actually bwfc1975 I spent 6 years in Sunderland so I do know what I'm talking about. I really like the North East, Newcastle especially and have lots of friends there. However in places like Sunderland, South Sheilds and Hebburn you would not believe the ammount of fringe church groups that operate there, one on every corner. Scientologists and other cults also have a field day and are regularlly out there trying to recruit all sorts. When I was living there you had to beat them off with a stick some weekends. And Mormon's yikes, couldn't move for them on the metro to Sunderland. No idea when the flock there but the ratio of relgious and intolerant annoying people does IMHO seem higher there than in London, or at least shows up against the background noise.
Anyway I should probably have been more precise and I apologise.

11:52 / 16.10.02

Cool your jets, folks. I'm more than happy to take part in a North vs South hatefest, but let's do that in the Conversation.

SFD, you're quite right about the Lords debate on the matter - I think it's adoption in general that's coming under scrutiny. Under new proposals put forward by the Government it would become illegal for adoption agencies to give preference to married couples, I think. If the Lords accepts - and the chances of that are what? - adoption agencies will have to give equal weight to applications from non-married het couples and gay couples, I suppose.

12:23 / 16.10.02

The page explaining their position that sfd refers to is http://www.christian.org.uk/html-publications/adoption_poster.htm - I won't put the link in to it, though, since (if you weren't aware) the referrer logs for a site can tell where someone came to it from.

I don't think their actual "arguments" are worth exploring here, but I can't see them as a serious political force on their own - I think the main problem is the Lords, who don't really need campaign groups to think poofs are icky. I imagine quite a few would vote to ban single mothers as well.

The threat from this sort of group comes more that they co-ordinate existing prejudice rather than create it themselves. Possibly they might act to crystallise it. Who's going to fund a campaign to present the opposite view though?

Golly gee, I know the government is full of pro-homosexual anti-family politically-correct social experimenters, but you sure don't see much of them, do ya?

12:36 / 16.10.02

We need a rich poof or dyke to back a pro-adoption campaign. It might not win us the day, but I'd love to see the billboard posters.

12:53 / 16.10.02

My friends and I vandalised one of Soutar's Section 28 posters a couple of years back. It felt good.

Yeah, all straight parents are wonderful, and give their child just the upbringing they need. Uh-huh.

Mine are nice, though.

16:13 / 16.10.02

I need to think and make a more coherent response, but my first reaction to this is to - literally - piss myself laughing. Thanks, Sax, you've made my day!

Totally. That is the only possible reaction. I wonder who is behind this. A small group or perhaps just one person. I couldn't imagine any coherent group going in for this just froma PR point of view. Bananas.

16:19 / 16.10.02

[off topic]
It reminds me a bit of the book Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis (and the movie to a lesser extent). When his father dies, young Patrick is sent to live with his liberal, free-spirited aunt in New York City. The will stipulates that Mame will educate him in a proper conservative prep school. So, she enrolls him in this ultra-progressive school where everyone is naked and instead of being taught things, the kids just climb around on a giant porcelain vagina.
[/off topic]

08:46 / 17.10.02

The Lords voted against changing the law, by about 35 votes. The Govt haven't given up, apparently, but I can't help feeling that it will be put on the back burner. After all, if Ministers are publicly stating that they don't think us deviants can give children the 'right' start in life, what hope is there?

We're The Great Old Ones Now

09:11 / 17.10.02

It's an obvious point, but perhaps worth saying, that the All New Tolerant Tory Party, helmed by the All New Quiet Man, has come unequivocally out of the Blue Corner to fight for the rights of the Normal Right-Thinking FOlks against the Evil Predatory Homosexualists Who Want To Steal Our Children.

So that makes their position pretty clear. link 2

MPs aim to overturn ban.

There's another element to this which could be either positive or negative. One argument which is sometimes deployed in favour of gay couples being allowed to adopt is the large number of children in care awaiting adoption. That's not always the easiest situation - some children from care have a great deal of baggage - see here - and if gay couples adopt disproportionately from this source, they (or rather, their homosexuality) may also end up unfairly taking the blame for problems down the line. On the other hand, it occurs to me that some children may fare better in an all-female or all-male home environment because of what they've already had to deal with.

11:20 / 18.10.02

if gay couples adopt disproportionately from this source, they (or rather, their homosexuality) may also end up unfairly taking the blame for problems down the line.

A good point, and I think you can bet the farm that this WILL be raised in the future when unmarried het and gay couples are allowed to adopt.
Something emerged in last night's Question Time, namely that agencies involved in child care (Barnardos, NSPCC etc.) SUPPORT extending adoption rights to unmarried straight and gay couples. But hey, what do they know? These agencies, which are probably riddled with left-wingers and gays, do have a "social engineering agenda," if you believe some of the stuff coming out of the Family Values corner. The Blue Rinse Brigade knows best - rather a child sleeping rough, taking drugs, getting involved in crime, truanting etc. than (Heaven forbid) being exposed to the evils of homosexuality.
BTW - top TV moment last night - the look of cold hatred on Peter Tatchell's face as Anne Widdecombe was spewing Daily Mail-speak on Question Time. Priceless.
Is it possible to carry a card saying "In the event of my death I do not want my children adopted by bigots"?

Regrettable Juvenilia

18:52 / 06.11.02

Hey, guess what? The bigots lost this one.

Campaigners for homosexual rights unexpectedly triumphed last night in the House of Lords when peers voted by 215 to 184, a majority of 21, to give homosexual and unmarried heterosexual couples the right to adopt.

Tory peers denounced the vote, saying vulnerable children were being used as "trophies in a gay rights crusade". Bishops also expressed disappointment at a defeat for the institution of marriage,

The measure will become law on Friday in a blow to Conservative peers who were determined to challenge the will of the Commons for a second time on the issue.

The vote also raises further questions about Iain Duncan Smith's judgment in putting his leadership on the line by imposing a disastrous three line whip on Tory MPs on Monday night.

So IDS is on the ropes as a bonus. Glad to see some good news for a change. And I want "trophies in a ----- rights crusade" to become the new "PC gone mad", satirists...

19:43 / 06.11.02

But will that win any hearts and minds? To paraphrase someone on MeFi, up yours, Lady O'Cathain...

I think IDS has always been on the ropes. Even the Private Eye skits on him are boring. But I don't know how much that is to do with him and how much with the fact that the Tories are utterly unelectable - I think any leader would have severe problems trying to overcome the fact that there's no room for them in British politics. It's a worry though - we've practically got a one-party state these days.

New Labour seems to be a new beast though - they're both economically and socially liberal (well, comparatively), and I'm struggling to come up with a similar combination from the past.

20:05 / 06.11.02

Well, thank God that love got to win a round for a change...

I wonder how much objection we would have heard from the Family Values people if we were only talking about letting unmarried straight people adopt...

And as for Ann Widdecombe, well. This is a single woman whose never had sex - a fucking forty-year-old virgin - never mothered a child, never been married, never went through a relationship - and she's telling us all who the best people to mother children are. No, sorry, Ann, you do not know. This is why we allow people like Barnardos and the NSPCC to help us decide on these matters - they work with children every day of the year, day in, day out, while you spend your time in London propping up the festering corpse that is the Tory party, writing bilge like The Clematis Tree, and maintaining a website of your absolutely dreadful fucking cat poetry. I don't think it's very hard to see whose values we should be basing our decision on here...

On another topic, I'm pleased to see 'Lithers giving due respect to us northerners and our robust belief in democracy, free speech, and peoples' right to practice whatever religion they believe in. On behalf of us all, I thank you!