Ever since the state of Vermont became the first state to allow same-sex marriage in March 2000, the topic of same-sex marriage and adoption had been on the outskirts of the public eye. Under that bill, same-sex couples would be allowed to adopt, being given the same rights as spouses. In that same month, John and Michael Gallucio visited Lebanon Valley College to give a talk on being the first unmarried couple to adopt jointly after winning a class-action lawsuit in New Jersey¹. In June 2001, a study by the University of Southern California found that children with gay or lesbian parents were found to be more accepting of diversity and gender nonconformity. They were also more likely to “explore homosexual activity,” according to The Sentinel.²

Things finally came to a head for queer families in 2002, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled on Aug. 20 that a child may be adopted by a parent’s legal partner if they are the same sex without giving up parental rights. The ruling came from two cases. In the first, lesbian couple Carole and Barbara Fryberger from Lancaster County desired to adopt twin boys born to one of the women through in-vitro fertilization. They originally made a case in 1998 that was overturned in Lancaster County Court. In the other, a man from Erie County wanted to adopt a boy and girl who had already been adopted by their partner.

Strangely, there was more coverage of this ruling from local newspapers than The Patriot-News, despite the fact that it was a decision made by the state Supreme Court. The earliest coverage of this case instead comes from Feb. 12, 2002 in the Intelligencer Journal, where staff writer Jeff Hawkes makes an emotional appeal to the importance of family. In the article “A Parent in Every Sense But the Legal,” he paints a picture of the whole Fryberger family saying grace at the family dinner table before drawing the reader into the legal battle the couple faced³.

Robby and Reese have always had two mothers. It’s as normal to them as having George, two cats and eight fish.

Jeff Hawkes, Intelligencer Journal, Feb. 12 2002

When it comes to the many organizations that supported the couple, Hawkes pays special attention to the American Academy of Pediatrics’ approval.

The next month, the Intelligencer Journal published an entire page of their newspaper dedicated to same-sex adoption in Lancaster County with two articles by Linda Espenshade. The first article, “Couple fights for equal parental rights,” emphasizes the legal protections of children involved in this case, rather than an emotional appeal to the reader⁴. Just as Hawkes emphasized that the American Academy of Pediatrics was supporting the couple because of the legal security adoption provides to children.

Espenshade also gives a voice to the opposing argument through the Pennsylvania Family Institute president Richard Geer, who believes that a heterosexual couple is best to raise a child and that homosexual relationships are “more unstable and unsafe” than heterosexual relationships. According to Espenshade, Geer fears that “approving second-parent adoption by gays could be part of a homosexual agenda to gain state approval of gay marriages.”

In the second article “Homosexuals have been adopting for years in Lancaster County,” Espenshade explains that nothing in the law explicitly prevents gay and lesbians from adopting, but the adoption agencies instead place their own barriers. People will hide their sexual orientation in order to adopt children, more often than not.

When the case was decided in a 6-0 ruling, the Sentinel released an article from the Associated Press titled “Court Decision Makes Phones Ring.”⁵ Writer JoAnn Loviglio explains how the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights has been inundated with calls each day asking about second-parent adoption, and now even more are coming in. Loviglio explains how second legal parents can file for adoption with stories from parents in Philadelphia.

In contrast to Lancaster newspapers and The Sentinel, The Patriot-News has little about the case. The first mention comes from the “Heard on the Hill” section on Aug. 22⁶. Rather than report from the side that won the case, they instead reported a quotation from the Pennsylvania Family Institute, one of the main oppositions for the ruling’s success.

References

1. “Adoptive Gay Couple Talk about Family at Lebanon Valley.” Sunday News, 27 Feb. 2000, p. G3. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/565557424/. ↩︎
2. “Study: Children Raised By Gays More Tolerant.” The Sentinel, 17 June 2001, A6. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/345124106/. ↩︎
3. “A Parent in Every Sense But Legal.” Intelligencer Journal, 12 Feb. 2002, p. 23. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/566050915/. ↩︎
4. “Couple Fights For Equal Parental Rights.” Intelligencer Journal, 5 March 2002, p. B4. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/566322501/. ↩︎
5. “Court Decision Makes Phones Ring.” The Sentinel, 22 Aug. 2002, p. A2. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/344666773/. ↩︎
6. “HEARD ON THE HILL.” Patriot-News, The (Harrisburg, PA), FINAL ed., sec. Local/State, 22 Aug. 2002, p. B03. NewsBank: Access World News, https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=AWNB&req_dat=0F70140CF1734230&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews/10D98F1A51A1B9BF. Accessed 25 July 2024. ↩︎