Biffster’s World

Never under-estimate the vileness of a homophobe: Drives to ban gay adoption heat up in 16 states.

Efforts to ban gays and lesbians from adopting children are emerging across the USA as a second front in the culture wars that began during the 2004 elections over same-sex marriage.

Steps to pass laws or secure November ballot initiatives are underway in at least 16 states, adoption, gay rights and conservative groups say. Some - such as Ohio, Georgia and Kentucky - approved constitutional amendments in 2004 banning gay marriage. (Related story: Both sides cite concern for children)

“Now that we’ve defined what marriage is, we need to take that further and say children deserve to be in that relationship,” says Greg Quinlan of Ohio’s Pro-Family Network, a conservative Christian group.

Let me make my feelings very clear on this issue: It is evil to restrict a devoted and responsible couple the opportunity to adopt a child. It doesn’t matter what sex the members of the couple are. Studies have proven over and over again that homosexual couples make just as good parents as heterosexual couples. This type of ban hurts prospective parents, and it hurts children who have a chance to go to a great home.

It’s evil to stop this!

I’m pretty sick and tired of hearing about the lunatic - alleged lunatic? - known as the Reverend Fred Phelps. Phelps is an extreme, radical homophobe who enjoys staging anti-gay rallies at the funerals of people who’ve died of AIDS. Unfortunately, while he was doing this, the rest of the nation didn’t really get upset about it.

However, Phelps changed gears recently, and has started having his rallies at military funerals for soldiers who were killed in Iraq. The reason? Some incoherent babble about the soldiers being killled by God as punishment for America harboring homosexuals. Doesn’t make sense to me, either.

There is a little bit of good news in this story, though: it appears that Phelps has earned himself a group of dedicated protesters, a group of motorcycle riders who are driving around the country, setting up counter-protests for Phelps’s rallies. The goal: give the grieving families some privacy as they bury their loved ones.

Wearing vests covered in military patches, a band of motorcyclists rolls around the country from one soldier’s funeral to another, cheering respectfully to overshadow jeers from church protesters.

They call themselves the Patriot Guard Riders, and they are more than 5,000 strong, forming to counter anti-gay protests held by the Rev. Fred Phelps at military funerals.

Phelps believes American deaths in Iraq are divine punishment for a country that he says harbors homosexuals. His protesters carry signs thanking God for so-called IEDs — explosives that are a major killer of soldiers in Iraq.

The bikers shield the families of dead soldiers from the protesters, and overshadow the jeers with patriotic chants and a sea of red, white and blue flags.