Samhita is pleased by this CNN story about the increasing number of gay couples turning to surrogacy and fertility clinics in order to have children. But I find it deeply depressing. It tells the story of Tom Starling and Jeff Littlefield, who wanted to adopt a child in South Carolina. Turned back by anti-gay hostility and related roadblocks, they "instead opted to become parents through a surrogacy program run by Los Angeles-based Growing Generations." What an absolute shame. Starling and Littlefield wanted to adopt a child who desperately needed an economically stable and emotionally open home. Unable to overcome the obstructions erected by bigots, they turned to a surrogacy firm instead. At day's end, Starling and Littlefield still had their child -- whatever harm they're going to inflict by virtue of their maleness will still occur. But somewhere in South Carolina, there's a kid, or a couple of them, who really needed that intervention, and was denied a supportive and permanent home because it's good politics to beat up on gay adoption.
