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adoption, aids, babies, brothers and sisters, david burtka, david furnish, hiv, modern family, neil patrick harris, same sex marriage, sir elton john, television, Ukraine
Adoption is a beautiful thing, and can give a couple joy if they can not have, or choose not the have children. But is it just as beautiful when a couple of the same sex decides to partake in adopting a child?
Gay celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris and Sir Elton John are just two of the many celebrities who have decided to break the boundaries on same sex adoption and adopt children of their own.
Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish caused controversy in the Ukraine in 2009 after visiting an Orphanage as part of an Anti-AIDS charity project. He met a 14 month old boy name Lev and he and his partner automatically were fond of him. The homosexual couple wanted to adopt the boy, who was HIV positive, but the Ukrainian government shot them down as they thought not only was Sir Elton John too old, but the Ukrainian government only let adoption be done with a married couple, and as John and Furnish were in a same sex marriage, it was not accepted as a marriage in the Ukraine.
But the controversy didn’t stop there. Many people had an opinion on the couple trying to obtain adoption rights of Lev. A serviceman from the area around the orphanage had said “They are going to destroy this child’s life”. This is a horrendous thing to say, and why? Because they’re the same sex? Media needed to put more attention on these issues.
(Above) Neil Patrick Harris and partner David Burtka with their twins.
But In 2010, the couple did adopt a child, and this time it was seen as legal, it was in the same year that Neil Patrick Harris and his partner David Burtka adopted a set of twins themselves. The power of these couples showcases how it is so easy that society forgets that same sex couples have the same capacity to long a child, make a family and be happy, in the same way a heterosexual couple does.
Not only do celebrities bring a powerful media voice on the subject of gay rights, but television shows also have this power.
In 2009 the popular show ‘Modern Family’ had stirred up controversy by having a gay couple with an adoptive baby. The show intended to tare down family stereotypes, and created new views on “modern families”. But the show wasn’t alone to highlight this idea. The hit show ‘Brothers and Sisters’ also had a gay couple trying for artificial insemination, after it failed, they adopted a healthy little girl, but evidently, the insemination was successful and not only did they have a girl, that also had a little boy. Both these shows not only break down the boundaries that were once so tight in terms of what is normal and what is not accepted, but also creates a brand new view that society can change and mould to not only one set of norms but many, because the world is full of diversities that we all need to acknowledge.
(Above) Modern Families homosexual couple.
