This Should Make Sally Kern Turn Over In Her Crypt

Chad is "Daddy". His partner, Eric, is "Dad". And, together, they are been raising three adopted siblings in Oklahoma City home. In the Land Of Kern.

“I think it's the same as everybody else,” Eric said of parenting. "We're two people trying to raise three kids, dealing with the same things you have to deal with on a day-to-day basis: schedules, school things, getting the kids to bed, brushing their teeth, eating your dinner, doing homework. It's the same stuff that you would encounter with anybody.”

And, they are not alone. According to the US Census, there are 1,060 households of gay men were raising children in Oklahoma,and some 1,840 lesbian-couple households doing the same. Take that, Sally Kern. Nearly three-thousand gay and lesbian couples raising children in Oklahoma.

Of course, it isn't all roses. Chad and Eric--who didn't want their last names used in this story--researched adoption for a few years, and even moved to a family friendly neighborhood, near good schools and parks, before they even adopted. The next few years, yes, years, saw a "a flurry of forms, background checks and home studies" by the state Department of Human Services.

“They don't allow any non-married couples--whether they're same-sex or heterosexual--to adopt kids together,” Eric said. “It has to be one (adult) or the other. The state doesn't allow us to do it together. But case workers understand that two parents, regardless of their orientation, can provide good, loving homes.”

And, in the spring of 2010, their case worker invited the couple to an “adoption party,” an informal event where prospective parents can meet older children awaiting adoption.
That's where Eric and Chad met two sisters, now ages 5 and 7, and their brother, now 10. The three were living in separate foster homes before Chad and Eric came along, but over the course of the summer the three children moved in with Eric and Chad.

And made a family. Dad, daddy and three siblings who might have otherwise grown up separately. Chad: “Before, it was just me and him and our dogs, that was our family. Once we got kids, your life becomes centered around the kids. It's been for the better, and we actually enjoy it. Every time I hear them say, ‘Daddy,' it melts my heart.”

Is that so wrong?

via NewsOK

For A Moment, Jan Brewer Had A Brain And A Heart...But Then She Gave Them Back

There are days when I find a story, a news item, that really piques my interest, but I don't have the time to post about it, so I save it for another day. That happened with this next story, and then the story just sort of ended, and now I'm left with bupkus.
Except.......

Once upon a time, in Arizona, Jan Brewer and her minions wanted to be able to stop you and question you if your skin wasn't lily white, or you had an accent, or an un-American sounding name like Rodriguez or Gomez. But then the 9th Circuit Court stepped in and basically said, "Arizona, you're racist. Knock that shiz off."

So, what does Arizona do next, to prove they're using their brains? Well, the state Legislature last week gave final approval to a proposal that would require President Barack Obama, and other presidential candidates who don't look, well, let's just say it, white, to prove they are US citizens before their names can appear on the state's ballot.

Birther law. In Arizona. but that's to be expected.

And I was all ready to rip Jan Brewer and her racist state a new one for pandering to Birthers and Teabaggers and all their nonsense, until the unthinkable happened. Jan Brewer got a brain. And perhaps, though this is still in doubt, a heart. She vetoed the bill.

Brewer said the Birther Bill would have created “significant new problems while failing to do anything constructive for Arizona” and that she had no choice but to veto the legislation. By way of explanation, she sent a letter  to the Arizona House speaker, saying such racist--okay, she didn't use the word racist because racists don't think they're racist--such legislation “could lead to arbitrary or politically motivated decisions” about candidates’ eligibility for the presidential race. She also added: “I never imagined being presented with a bill that could require candidates for president of the greatest and most powerful nation on earth to submit their ‘early baptismal or circumcision certificates’ among other records to the Arizona secretary of state. This is a bridge too far.”

So, Hell apparently froze over because Jan Brewer set aside her idiocies, and her Palin-esque pandering, to do the right thing. I actually liked Jan Brewer, but then......

She obviously removed the Brain and the Heart that the Wizard had just given her, because she signed legislation giving married couples--and we know by 'married' she means heterosexual couples--preference over gay couples when it comes to adoption.

The new bill law would require any adoption agency, both state and private, to give primary consideration to adoptive placement with a married man and woman, with all other criteria being equal. 

Gay couple. Straight couple. Exactly alike in every way, except one, and that one difference is the gender of one party, and it will be used to deny adoption. The only other state with such legislation is Utah, and we know how Utah feels about The Gays.

This bill also discourages single-parent adoption, as preference would also be given to married, straight couples. And yet, right now, about a third of the foster children in Arizona are adopted by an unmarried person. At least until a married couple steps forward ans says they want that child.

Jan Brewer. One step forward and then two ugly steps back.