Four panelists and around 30 students, parents and community members fervently debated whether lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender couples should be allowed the same adoption rights as heterosexual couples Tuesday night at an event sponsored by Penn Forum.
Currently, gay couples who wish to adopt children are allowed to do so -- though often after much waiting and intense review by adoption boards.
The Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center's Associate Director Erin Cross and attorney Michele Reed, an adoptive mother of a 10-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter, spoke in favor of LGBT parenting.
Reed stressed the "reality" of the foster care situation, saying that children adopted into same-sex households are removed from a "system" that "stresses and damages" young children.
"It comes down to loving and responsible parenting, no matter what that looks like," Cross said.
Opposing LGBT adoptions were Urban Family Council President Betty Jean Wolfe and Michael Drake, a volunteer with the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property.
Wolfe called gay parenting a "fraud" not to be equated with heterosexual parenting, while Drake said that children have the right to a "normal environment."
"Homosexuals do not have the moral condition to raise children," Drake said.
These are "issues that will affect us all in the future... equal rights affects everyone," said chair of the Allies Committee and College senior Chris Kawasaki.
After each panelist was given the opportunity to speak twice uncontested, the floor was opened up to the general audience. With this open forum, the debate truly heated up.
Wolfe challenged the opposing panelists to explain what "authority" they were speaking on, as she claimed to be speaking on "God's authority."
Cross responded, saying she also claimed to be speaking on God's authority, but taking a "very different" view on it.
"If you don't know where you're going, any turn will get you there," said Drake, explaining the lack of direction homosexuals have as immoral beings.
"Gay parenting is one aspect people don't concentrate on as much," said Supawon Lervisit, a member of Penn Forum who organized last night's debate. Lervisit, a College junior, also emphasized the "diversity of views" present at the debate, clear by the often-emotional discourse.
The audience appeared heavily in favor of gay adoption rights, with Wolfe and Drake forced to defend their positions most of the night. Following the debate, nearly all of the audience members stayed to personally confront the panelists. One woman told Wolfe, "I pray for you" before storming out.
Some students felt the debate was bogged down by a religious agenda.
It "focused too much on the theological questions rather than the reality we are living in," College sophomore Katie Fleishman said.
Legal Studies Professor Arnold Rosoff, who moderated the debate, admitted he allowed his opinions to infiltrate the discussion by the end.
"People have a right to be happy," Rosoff said following the debate, and being "a parent is a wonderful thing."
