The Roman Catholic Church's stance on gay adoptions is incomprehensible. The Church declares that such adoptions are "gravely immoral" because the children are placed "in an environment that is not conducive to their full human development," the Church ignores the far greater damage done by warehousing unadopted children in institutions or placing them in unfit foster homes. Other Christian groups are unfortunately following the Roman Catholic Church's lead, and that's a disgrace.

The Roman Catholic Church has long sought to encourage women to put their children up for adoption rather than aborting them. In the United States, when the child is white, getting the child adopted is no problem. But for children of other races or of any race in other countries, finding people capable of adopting and raising the child can be difficult.

The damage done to children by even the best institutions is severe; when imagine the effect less-than-optimal institutions have on child development:

"When the World Health Organization went in and looked at these orphanages in early 1990s, the orphanages were described as ranging from 'poor' to 'appalling,'" says Pollak. In many of these state-run institutions, the orphans spent the entire day in toyless cribs housed in quiet, colorless rooms; they wore clothes that didn't fit and they had little contact with caregivers.

"So few adults were caring for so many children that the environments were generally void of stimulation and human interaction," explains Pollak.

Even if children from these places are eventually adopted, they often have difficulty bonding with caregivers and socializing properly. The cognitive damage from a stimulation-poor environment is often irrepairable. The brain grows during childhood, and that growth is affected by the nurturing environment. If the environment is not nurturing, the damage is permanent.

How do you convince a woman to put her child up for adoption instead of aborting the child when she knows full well the horrors her child will face in an overloaded adoption system? Limiting adoptions to heterosexual couples encourages abortion.

I understand that the Roman Catholic Church is opposed to homosexuality. But the research shows no significant difference between children adopted by heterosexual couples and those adopted by homosexual couples. Compared to the damage done by institutionalization, any possible difference is trivial. If there were no children in institutions anywhere, I would understand a debate on this topic. I'd have a lot more to say, and my conclusion would be the same. But under the current circumstances, prohibiting adoption by gays and lesbians is evil, no matter what your beliefs about homosexuality are.

In response to laws requiring adoptions to be open to couples whether gay or straight, the Roman Catholic Church has withdrawn from the adoption process. That is their choice. It's a sad, pathetic, unthinking and wrongheaded choice. I pray that Christians will step up to aid the adoption process where the Catholic Church has abandoned these children.

Note: I admit I am biased on this issue. That bias comes from personal experience.

Several homosexual couples with whom Nancy and I are friends with have adopted children. The children are healthy, happy, and well-adjusted. As Nancy and I observe parenting styles around us, looking for role models, we consistently find the homosexual couples among those parents we admire most.

In one case, the child was adopted from a Pro-Life group. The Pro-Life group can only handle so many cases at a time. If they do not have someone to adopt a child, they cannot take another mother into the program. Mothers turned away generally resort to abortion. So by adopting a child, this homosexual couple saved the life of another child. When I look at their child, I can't help but think of the other child my friends saved as well.