Thursday, March 1, 2012

Rhode Island Adoptee Rights: Victory?

Rhode Island legislators passed into law a bill allowing adopted citizens over the age of 25 to obtain their original birth certificates. is this a victory to cheer?  If you like being called an adoptee child, cheer now. if you are willing to accept crumbs and second-class status, celebrate.

Those seeking equality are saddened by this slap in the face of blatant discrimination against people for having been parented by those not related to them....punished for decisions about their lives they had no control over or no choice whatsoever in....treated differently and lessser-than for something we hail in this country as a wonderful thing: adoption! An institution we encourage and support with tax credits and an entire month spent in its honor, promoting it.

Imagine the uproar of the gay community if they were given the right to marry if they were over 25.  Or, if when women or Blacks got the vote, they got it with an age restriction that didn't apply to others? Imagine slaves having been freed - when they reached 25 years of age...with no end to slave ownership.



Note that all others in the state of RI just need to fill out an application and pay $20. NO AGE RESTRICTION whatsoever! All that is required is a photo ID. 

The adoption reform community is to blame for not pushing this as a civil rights issue and for accepting these insults with cheers. Even the once "radical" BN, who calls others "deformers" accepts these age restrictions.  This is discriminatory and the adoption community should be outraged not cheering this.

If adoptees dislike being called adopted "children" they need to stop allowing the law to treat them worse than children. A 12-year-old with $20 and able to fill out the form can get their BC, but an adopted adult citizen who pays taxes, serves the military, can marry and vote.... cannot!  If you dislike being called adopted children stop running after and accepting every sweet treat that's offered you. Stand up and demand full equality as a citizen of this nation that prides itself on equality.

Stand up and make it the civil rights issue it IS! Stop accepting CRUMBS. Age restrictions are no different than any other hoops put on adoptee rights. 


Click this image above or go to the RI vital stats web page. The blatant discrimination herein should be just as offensive  to every American citizen as signs that once read: "Colored Bathrooms" or "Colored water Fountains."

Where is the outrage?  Where is the demand for equality and JUSTICE FOR ALL?  Are adopted citizens not part of that "all"?  


Tax payer money supports these adoptions that then discriminate against the very people it purports to "rescue" and "save." Every American should be up in arms at this disgrace.


But Rhode Island is not the only state that treats adopted citizens differently. In fact, more than 40 states deny them access t their own birth certificate FOREVER! other states add restrictions such as age requirements, or other hoops that only adoptees have to jump through. There needs to be a federal challenge to the process by which birth certificates are falsified by states to begin with. If you or I falsified a government document we'd be imprisoned, but states do it willy nilly every time a person is legally parented by those other than who he was born to. And the original information is kept secret from the persons named therein! What other legal document do those named on it have no access to? None!  


Outrage. An assault to the very life and liberty this nation was founded on. And barely a whimper is heard. It's as if along with taking away OBCs, a majority of adoptees have their back bones removed, their courage destroyed and replaced with gratitude for not having been aborted, or raised by crack whores....as was the alternate fate of adoptees like Steve Jobs. Living with the knowledge of having been adopted - and thus abandoned or rejected - destroys for too many a basic sense of self-image and leaves adopted far too many to feel and act like beaten puppy dogs who are thankful for any scrap thrown at them, licking it up with a wag of their tale at their master.  Deformers? How about whipped shoe-shine boys? I find it very sad, shameful and disgraceful. Very sad indeed that human beings accept such dehumanizing treatment and even applaud it.


Some say it's a compromise and better than it was originally proposed. I am not ignorant to the process and how legislation requires compromise. Unlike BN, I am NOT ragging on the local grassroots reformers who likely worked very hard to get this much...my beef is with those in the movement who applaud it and do not express outrage. My beef is with the lack of push for equal access as a civil rights issue across the country. 


There'd have been no cheering if black and white water fountains were placed adjacent to one another, or "colored" bus seats were moved a row up from thee back.


EQUALITY CANNOT BE COMPROMISED. It is either equal or unequal, mathematically and politically. Unequal is unfair and unacceptable because it is discriminatory. Period. 


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1 comment:

Anne Johnson said...

July 2. Today the law goes into effect. I was happy for R.I. until I read your piece. You make an excellent point. Go, Mira!!!

Anne Johnson
Potsdam family-finder
Potsdam, NY

BTW, As NY is ruled by 3 men, not by our legislature (rubber stamps) we will not see any changes until after those 3 retire or die.

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