Millions of children today live in poverty, either as orphans or with parents who struggle to provide for them. But some children are also being denied of the right to have two legal parents, simply because their guardians live a homosexual lifestyle. What does this mean? If a parent was to die, his or her child would receive no Social Security or any kind of inheritance from the deceased. Likewise, if a gay or lesbian couple were to separate, the non-biological parent would have no responsibility to further support the child. Basically, he or she would become nothing more than a stranger. Many same-sex couples must face court trials in order to gain lawful custody or joint adoption. Oftentimes, one parent will adopt, and their partner will later file for a second parent adoption. However, numerous judges have even denied custody to a biological parent because they are in a relationship with someone of the same sex, claiming it creates an “unnatural” environment. If something is unusual, is it necessarily unhealthy? The federal government is essentially denying rights to people because of the way they lead their sexual lives behind closed doors. Matters in a person’s private life should not reflect the way they are treated. Most adoption agencies will let only one single parent adopt, yet the government looks harshly upon two homosexual parents. Currently, nine states plus The District of Columbia allow same-sex couples to carry out second parent adoptions, in which a second guardian takes over the responsibility of a child without taking away rights of the first. Iowa is not one of those states. Similarly, many private adoption agencies ambiguously discriminate against gay and lesbian couples. But if two committed people are willing to spend a great amount of time and money to raise a son/daughter, how can anyone be sure that they would make worse parents than a heterosexual couple? Any parent, regardless of sex, has the same potential to love and care for a child. But that’s not what our government believes. Moreover, there are millions of poverty-stricken children in this world and not as many people willing to adopt them. An abandoned child living on the streets would gladly come home to any parent rather than live in an orphanage, if he or she is even that lucky. So why do we chose to deny certain people such rights because we do not agree with the intimate aspect of their life? As all other movements of past generations, hopefully one day the opposing sides of the gay rights issue will learn to unite. With communication and an open mind, step by step, same-sex couples can have the rights they deserve.