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Utah Governor honored by GLBT organizations
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. was honored by Utah's GLBT community at this year's pride festival.
The Utah Pride Center and other organizations have picked Huntsman for the Pete Suazo Political Action Award.
Huntsman is the first Utah governor to openly support civil unions for same-sex couples.
Earlier this year, he also endorsed the Common Ground Initiative, a campaign for basic legal protections for gay and transgender Utahns that fizzled in the Legislature.
The award is named for the late state Sen. Pete Suazo, who worked for years to pass hate-crimes legislation in Utah.
9/29/2007
A Utah gay couple may lose their kids because of their successful relationship. State wants single closeted gay men as parents
Three weeks ago, in Utah County, a niece asked her uncle to take her 4 kids. To care for them because she can't. She's dealing with drug-related criminal matters - and the kids are aged 11, 6, 2-years, and 10 months. The father's not able to care for them either.
The uncle happens to be gay, and in a long term relationship. Michael Valdez and Michael Oberg have been together for about 5 years. They have steady jobs, a nice home, and no criminal record - but they aren't allowed by law to take-in the needy kids.
Utah says that to adopt or be a foster parent, you must be legally married - or single - and not cohabiting. It doesn't license foster couples who aren't legally married. In other words, gay Uncle Valdez could foster or adopt if he wasn't in a steady, thriving relationship. If he was "single".
Officials asked the court to take custody of the kids or grant custody to the state's Division of Child and Family Services. The Daily Herald reports that, on Friday, the courts took custody, then granted Valdez temporary custody of the children.
The judge said, "I see absolutely no reason why the kids can't stay where they're at."
The 11-year-old child said, "I would rather live with my mom. But if I can't, I'd rather live here."
Michael is already a father. Gabrielle Valdez, his 17-year-old biological daughter, said that their home is like any other, complete with family dinners, concerns over school work and regular jobs.
Utah joins Florida and Mississippi with outright bans on gay parents.
According to KSL.com and Utah's Division of Child and Family Services, there are 2,600 children in the state's foster program.
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youngsplace
I have a brother that is "gay", I love him & pray for him daily. I do not believe that gay or lesbian couples should be allowed to raise children. I believe that, thatthe chosen lifestyle without saying sets the childs mind to accept this to be normal. I'm not saying that the couple is not good, kind or responsible. The child would be raised to believe that this is acceptable. God set forth in his word, "He created man & gave him a help mate (woman)". He told them to be fruitful & mulitiply.Two men or two woman can not do this. the only way homosexuals can mulitiply is to convert other people to their belief. I believe if people chose to live this life style they should keep that influence within the relm of that people believe the same way. All I can say is pray for homosexuals, pray in love, God loves them too!
I just realized...
...I'm a pinhead. Sorry! Disregard my retarded opinion--the one where I say children should be taken away from family and given to the foster care system so that gays won't be raising them.
I mean, sometimes someone as stupid as me decides to give an opinion. Boy, oh, boy, was that a mistake! I'm just a head up my ass numbnuts.
Love, youngsplace
Could you possibly be any more ignorant
I work for the Division of Child and Family Services. I see a terrible need for loving foster families.
Nothing accepted in the intelligent, informed community demonstrates that gay couples would be inappropriate to care for children, in fact research shows they have many strengths most hetersexual couples do not have.
The bible teaches so many false and contradictory things that it is ridiculous to base policy and law on what a confused ancient (and mostly false) book says.
God can mind his own business and intelligent people should be making decisions on how to care for the children who need a home in our state.
Pray for yourselves, the gay people in our state don't need your hypocritical pleas.
Let's be more Christ like....
Thank you sooooo much for your comments (could you possibly....). I mean didn't Jesus leave some kinds of message about helping the inflicted? Didn't he leave some manual talking about helping people? Actually I think he spent most of his time doing that...now that I think about it. These so called pseudo-Christians need to stop judging(<<
hmmm
Pull your head out of the sand and take a look at what is going on.
What would you rather the children accept as normal?
Should they accept that being gay is normal? (and it is - gay people exist in every country, every culture, and every ethnic division on the planet, at a rate of about 10% of the population.)
Or perhaps you would rather them grow up to accept that substance abuse and trouble with the law is the way to go.
Safe to say I wouldn't be leaving the futures of my children to you and your 2000 year old book.
Your so ignorant it hurts my insides
Why would gay or lesbian couples not be allowed to raise children, thier just as intelligent and loving as a straight couple. Its people like you who hold the world back, who think that what thier parents taught them and what they've "been raised to believe" is automatically true. Also by the way, not all peoples follow the teachings of the bible. Another thing is the science behind it, Many gays are born the way they are, with a different hormone balance then the average person. So to talk about "converting" others to thier belief is just stupid.
You are silly
I totally understand where you are coming from, I mean, straight people can only raise straight kids and for all kids to grow up straight no gay parents are allowed.
It is not a choice, you
It is not a choice, you should do more research
I gotta say...
...this is sad. The kids deserve to be with family members who love them. They need to stay with people they know and trust. The judge is right in his decision.
Oh yougsplace, you sound so young
Do you remember the day you decided you were straight? You call this a "chosen lifestyle", so I assume you had the luxury of choosing to be heterosexual. In other words, you could be gay -- if you wanted.
Lesbians and gays are being fruitful - and we're multiplying. The popularity of this website is an indication that there will be generations of children raised by gay and lesbian parents. No conversions necessary - just healthy family values like meals around the kitchen table, birthday parties, and family vacations.
Feel free to pray for me though. My days are long and often stressful. I'll take all the love I can get.
Good luck with your journey.