GOP Rep: Orphanages Are Better Than Gay Adoption

Chris Johnson reports at the Washington Blade:

In an exchange with high school students that was caught on tape, a Republican congressman from New Jersey was tongue-tied over the prospect of same-sex couples adopting children and suggested kids would be better off in orphanages than with LGBT families.

Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) made the remarks May 29 when addressing student constituents in the auditorium of Colts Neck High School.

They asked the congressman about his opposition to adoption by same-sex couples, according to a source familiar with the recording. A source familiar with the tape, who delivered the recording on Monday exclusively to the Washington Blade, said it was obtained in recent days.

The Hill reports:



In the audio tape, high school senior Hannah Valdes says she has an older gay sister who wants to adopt a child with her partner. Valdes told the Blade that Smith at another point during the event told the audience he does not believe in gay adoption because it is unhealthy for children.

“Rep. Smith responded by saying that he does not approve of gay adoption because gay households are not healthy environments for children to grow up in,” Valdes said. “He then stated that ‘numerous household studies’ show that children that have heterosexual parents have better lives than children that have homosexual parents.”