On Fri, 26 Sep 1997, Penelope Gibbs wrote:
> > Pat <mathews@UNM.EDU> wrote:
> > >According to a throwaway paper out of Phoenix, AZ, American women are
> > >adopting the little Chinese girl babies who have been left to starve in
> > >China's orphanages. The paper, THE ECHO, claims a lot of these women are
> > >single women and Lesbian couples. Miraculously, the Chinese government is
> > >permitting it instead of playing dog-in-the-manger or yowling about
> > >furriners & preverts. This puts them several up on the late unlamented
> > >Rumanian regime.
> >
> > More likely, they're just selling them to the rich, eccentric, barbarian
> > American market. They sell organs from convicted criminals, too.
> >
> >
> > Neil Rest
Neil, I assume you meant this remark ironically and with no real intent
to hurt anyone, but you need to be careful when making pronouncements on a
subject as touchy as adoption. Many good and decent people are involved
in the entirely legitimate practice of overseas adoption. They live on
both sides of the Pacific and are both Asian (Chinese, Korean, Thai,
Philippino, etc.) and American. Some do indeed work for the Chinese
government. My experience, however, is that, regardless of their
politics, the vast majority of these people care very deeply about the fate
of the children being put up for adoption. If they didn't care, they'd just
leave the babies to die. Most of these people would take strong exception to
your remark.
> >
> I have no documentation of the adoption policy of either the U.S. or
> China; However, I am friends with a lesbian couple who
> adopted two female infants from China. Other lesbians in our
> community are also looking into this, and from what I understand the
> wait is only 3 months to one year. Additionally, I know a
> heterosexual married couple in Alabama who adopted a daughter from
> China, and their wait was less than six months. I suspect there will
> never be a shortage of abandoned female infants in China, I am
> thrilled that these adoptions can actually take place.
>
This is wonderful news for anyone involved in overseas adoption. Back in
the late 1980s we had to wait 3 years to adopt from Korea and almost
weren't accepted as adoptive parents (despite being at least theoretically the
ideal adoptive couple--ie. married, in our thirties, with a steady income and
good health) because we were of mixed religious background. The largest adoption
agency in America, Lutheran Social Services, has even been known to turn down
Unitarians for God's sake! If the Chinese are willing to allow adoptions to good
lesbian parents they deserve nothing but praise.
And if you're wondering how this all connects to feminist science fiction
and fantasy, I'd be glad to introduce you to my daughter the alien.
Mike Levy
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