A bill that would bar gays and lesbians from adopting or being foster parents was debated for an hour-and-a-half today, but the Senate Human Resources Committee will vote on the bill later. Senator Neil Schuerer, a republican from Amana, is the bill’s floor manager.Schuerer says he believes it’s in the best interest of children in Iowa to be raised in a “marriage-based, two-parent family” with “a husband and a wife.” Shuerer says the law would follow the procedures for marriage. Schuerer says the only marriages recognized in Iowa are those between a man and a woman. He says an openly homosexual couple would be prevented from adopting kids or being a foster parent. Some Senators on the Committee, like Jack Holveck, a democrat from Des Moines, raised objections to the bill. Holveck says it’d require Department of Human Services investigators to question the sex life of people who apply to be a foster parent or adopt a child. Holveck says it’d turn the state investigators into “sex police.” During debate on the bill, the committee room was packed with gays, lesbians and their parents who’ve come to the capitol today to lobby. State officials say they don’t ask questions about sexual orientation of prospective foster and adoptive parents, so have no statistics on how many gays and lesbians are foster parents or have adopted a child.
