The problem with allowing homosexual couples to adopt is not merely that homosexuality is a sin, because, as you have argued, we are all sinners. For this reason, we don’t spend time determining the particular sins of each person who wishes to adopt. As you have also said, a stable, loving marriage between a man and woman is the ideal. However, there are sins that are so disordered they would eliminate any couple from the pool of acceptable adoption families: alcohol or drug abuse, ongoing adultery, child pornography, polygamy. These disorders go to the root of family life and endanger even the natural born kids let alone children adopted from difficult situations.

I would argue, as the Catholic Church argues, that active homosexuality is one of those sins. It is a disordered life choice that lies at the foundation of the “family” life established by two homosexuals. There is no such thing as a “stable” homosexual relationship. The attraction at the root of that relationship is disordered and cannot provide a healthy environment for any child. A loving foster family would be better (and if the argument against foster care is the quality, then we need to fix IT rather than move the child to a permanent situation that is unhealthy). In fact, I would argue that a single heterosexual mother could be a better situation than a homosexual couple because at least she has the chance of marrying at some point and presumably has healthy relationships with the opposite sex which would provide that input from both sexes that you rightly point out is so important.

Finally, if a homosexual couple is not good enough for the healthy, easy to place kids, why are they good enough for the harder place, often disabled, child? The “hard to place” child is hard to place precisely because his needs are greater. It would be far better for the child, and for society, if we worked on encouraging stable loving heterosexual families to open the doors to these children. First step would be to take away the stigma attached to giving up a child for adoption, and de-mystifying the role of the “birth parents” so we can get these kids free to be adopted sooner. Then perhaps we need to look at loosening some requirements for qualifying, such as age of adoptive parents and number of existing children in the home. We need to be determined as a society to seek out the best situations for the “hard to place” kids and not compromise on the all too important foundation of family life: marriage between a man and woman.