Dear Future President,

In the United States there are over 415,000 children in foster care. Those 415,000 kids don’t have a stable home to live in. Some don’t have books to read or games to play. They don’t have parents to love them, or to teach them right from wrong. There are around 9 million people in the United States who identify themselves within the LGBT community. Some of those 9 million desperately want children. They want to love them and watch them grow in life but some people think this is wrong.

By not allowing LGBT couples to adopt and making the adoption process so difficult, it’s preventing children from growing up in a healthy, loving environment. Do children not deserve a loving home? Do they not deserve to have parents that will accept them for who they are and help them thrive in life? When the adoption process is curved to be more lenient towards straight couples, all the children who aren’t adopted are sitting in foster homes wondering why. This wouldn’t be as big of a problem if LGBT couples didn’t have to struggle so much to adopt.

Adoption rights within the LGBT community weren’t completely recognized until gay marriage was made legal throughout the country. This is because now that LGBT couples didn’t have the weight of not being married hanging over their shoulders by adoption agencies, certain adoption establishments were finding ways to make it more difficult for same-sex couples to adopt. LGBT couples should be allowed to adopt and it is unfair that the process is more difficult than it is for straight couples.

Sexuality is something that has been a hot topic for quite awhile now and those who don’t accept the LGBT community are the same people stopping them from starting a family. Individuals who identify differently than straight are people too and who they love shouldn’t cause them as much hardship as it does. If they aren’t accepted as individuals, they certainly aren’t accepted as parents. By choosing to adopt, LGBT couples are choosing to have kids. It is a journey they want and are willing to take on. Saying that a person is unfit to raise a child just because of who they love is wrong. Raising a child comes from love, care and dedication. It doesn’t matter if a child has a mom and a dad, two moms or two dads. What matters is who those people are. Who those mothers and fathers are and who they are going to be as parents to children. I believe that same sex couples can provide loving and healthy environments for children to grow up in. Adoption should be an opportunity, not a disappointing and judgmental process.

Respectfully, Morgan S.