Inter Press Service - October 19, 2004
Marcela Valente

These are some of the questions addressed in a new book to be released in Argentina later this month, with contributions from prestigious psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, anthropologists and other specialists. And their answers firmly support the cause of sexual minorities in their struggle for the right to adopt children.

In this South American country of 37 million, only the capital city of Buenos Aires offers legal recognition for same-sex relationships through civil unions, which confer most of the same rights and responsibilities as marriage, except for the rights to inheritance and adoption.

Now the homosexual community is gearing up to demand a federal law, which would not only extend this possibility to the rest of the country, but would also give same-sex couples access to full marriage rights, including those related to inheritance and adoption.

To some extent, they are following in the footsteps of the advances made in Spain, where the government of Socialist Prime Minister Jose Rodriguez Zapatero is preparing to pass a law granting full marriage rights to same-sex couples.

For the moment, adoption is legal for sexual minorities in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, a number of Canadian provinces and some parts of the United States. It is not allowed anywhere in Latin America, Asia or Africa, where homosexuality is still considered a crime in some countries.

As a preemptive response to the debate that is bound to erupt over the issue in Argentina, psychologist Jorge Raices Montero of the Argentine Homosexual Community (CHA) has compiled a book on the subject of same-sex adoption with contributions from 24 specialists in fields ranging from psychoanalysis to family law to gender studies.

The most common fear with regard to children adopted by same-sex couples stems from the fact that they are not raised with the mother and father figures found in traditional families. Many believe that this can have negative repercussions on the psychological development of these children.

The book tackles this fear head-on, with case studies of boys and girls "successfully" raised by non-heterosexual couples, Raices Montero told IPS.

In general, the contributors to the book concur that children raised by gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (GLBT) parents present no unique psychological consequences as a result of their non-traditional upbringing.

Raices Montero explained that all children have certain needs that are met by functions which society has classified as "maternal" and "paternal". "Maternal" functions include feeding, nurturing and protecting children, while "paternal" functions include encouraging them to interact with the outside world and establishing limits.

Nevertheless, because "maternal" and "paternal" functions are not tied to any given gender or sexual orientation, these roles can actually be fulfilled by the same person, or shared between two people of the same sex, he said.

The overall message of the book is that children raised by same-sex couples are "normal", or "more precisely, they are just as well-balanced psychologically as children in any traditional family," Raices Montero added, stressing that "normalcy" does not mean a total absence of conflict, regardless of the type of upbringing youngsters have.

One of the book's contributors is respected Argentine psychoanalyst Eva Giberti, the author of several books on adoption and the founder of the School for Parents, which dispensed child-rearing advice on television in the 1970s.

While citing the importance of the functions traditionally fulfilled by mothers and fathers in a child's life, she nevertheless maintains that child ren "do not need a mommy with a vagina and a daddy with a penis" for proper development.

The CHA plans to release the book late this month, shortly before presenting its draft bill on civil unions to the Argentine Congress.

In December of 2002, the Buenos Aires city council passed legislation that grants legal status to same-sex unions. Couples who have lived together for at least two years, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation, can be enrolled in a registry of civil unions and subsequently receive the same treatment as any other married couple with regards to the rights, benefits and duties overseen by the municipal government.

This does not, however, give these couples the rights to adopt children or to automatically inherit from a deceased "spouse", since matters like these can only be addressed in a federal law. Furthermore, the couples must live in Buenos Aires in order for the legislation to apply.

The CHA wants a reform of the federal Civil Code that would give full marriage rights to same-sex couples, including the right to adopt children, perhaps the most controversial issue of all in a country where the Catholic Church wields formidable influence.

CHA president Cesar Cigliutti told IPS that his group will be facing a "tough cultural battle" against the most conservative sectors of the church, which maintain that only families headed by heterosexual couples can be viewed as "natural".

"The law only permits adoption by heterosexual married couples, or single people, and doesn't actually recognise common-law couples in general. But in any case, we know that what causes the greatest outrage for the Church is the thought of a family headed by a homosexual couple," said Cigliutti.

In practice, gay and lesbian couples have been able to adopt children by taking advantage of the fact that single people are eligible to be adoptive parents. One of the members of the couple can simply adopt as a single person, hiding their sexual orientation and/or living arrangements from the authorities.

There are also cases where single gays or lesbians enter into a same-sex union after adopting.

There are of course other ways for same-sex couples to raise children, without adopting. Lesbian couples can "procreate" through artificial insemination -- although this service is not provided by all Argentine hospitals -- and some same-sex couples raise the biological offspring of one of the partners, conceived in heterosexual relationships.

"We are not asking for permission to adopt," stressed Raices Montero. "We can already do it. What we want is recognition of a right that we have as citizens."

Cigliutti, who was among the first to enter into a same-sex civil union as soon as it became a possibility in Buenos Aires, is anxious to have children and raise a family.

"We would like to get on an adoption waiting list, and we wouldn't specify any preferences, like some heterosexual couples, who only want newborn babies, or white babies, or babies of a certain sex," he said. "If they gave us five siblings, or an older child, or a child with HIV/AIDS, we would love them just the same."

In fact, he added, there are so many people in the gay community who want to adopt that a lot of them would accept children under any circumstances.

But as far as Cigliutti and his partner are concerned, they want to see a law in place first. "We wouldn't want to put the kids at risk, since they would probably have already been abandoned or neglected in some way. Under the current conditions, if I adopted as a single person, and then died, the law could take the child away from my partner," he explained.

Only in a few cases where one member of a same-sex couple has died, "and thanks to incredibly good luck," the courts have recognised that the best solution for the child is to remain with the surviving partner.

Yet even when this is the ruling finally passed down, the children have had to spend the duration of the custody trials in foster homes or state orphanages.

If the CHA has its way, this will never happen to another child in Argentina.

*****

+ Argentine Homosexual Community - in Spanish (http://www.cha.org.ar/html/index.html)

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IP041006

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