Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live Today

Activists Debate Gay Parenting

Aired March 14, 2002 - 10:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: In a televised interview tonight, talk show host Rosie O'Donnell speaks out publicly about her being gay. She does this for the first time publicly. For years, Rosie has entertained America in the movies and on her talk show, but will this revelation damage her career?

CNN's Ann McDermott gives us a glimpse of what it is like to be gay in Hollywood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Hollywood, you can be out and still be in. Oscar nominee Ian McKellen has known that for years.

IAN MCKELLEN, ACTOR: ... and I, as a gay man, am particularly happy about that.

MCDERMOTT: But it wasn't always so. Silent star Billy Haines was told to save his career by ditching his boyfriend. He ditched his career instead.

Not Rock Hudson, star of romantic comedies like "Pillow Talk."

ROCK HUDSON, ACTOR: You ought to quit all this chasing around, get married.

MCDERMOTT: That's what the gay actor did, in an attempt to silence the rumors. But today, a Rupert Everett can be candid. Here he is asked why he isn't married.

RUPERT EVERETT, ACTOR: I'm gay.

MCDERMOTT: Meanwhile, scenes like this one from "Queer as Folk and this one "Once and Again," well, they can be seen on TV screens in living rooms across America, except in Lynchburg, Virginia, where a station there declined to air this kiss.

No that sexual candor is necessarily ratings gold.

ELLEN DEGENERES, ACTOR: I'm gay.

Ellen's show eventually tanked. But critics say the quality did too. So is Rosie's career at risk?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think there are repercussions for anybody who comes out.

MCDERMOTT: Though maybe less than you would think. These folks were asked about Rosie's decision.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't make a difference to me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really makes no difference.

MCDERMOTT (on camera): Do you care one way or the other?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

MCDERMOTT: Rosie was one of those celebrities who might be described as being in a glass closet. It is generally known they are gay, and it's generally not talked about. But that is changing, says the author of "Open Secret," the history of gay Hollywood. He predicts it won't be long before romantic leading men will be openly gay and openly accepted, because movie making is make-believe.

DAVID EHRENSTEIN, AUTHOR: Going to the movies and getting romantically involved with whoever is on the screen is a fantasy. You don't know those people.

MCDERMOTT: Maybe. But in the meantime, the Hollywood closet isn't exactly empty.

Ann McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Rosie O'Donnell says that she was moved to come out after reading about a gay couple trying to overturn Florida's ban on gay adoptions. O'Donnell herself is the mother of three adopted children, as you may know.

Joining us now to talk about the debate over gay adoption are Winnie Stachelberg; she's with the Human Rights Campaign -- you can see her there in our Washington bureau. And Sandy Rios is with us as well, from Washington; she's with Concerned Women of America.

Thank you for your time this morning, ladies. We sure do appreciate you coming on.

I am going to begin with you, Sandy, because, as I read your comments, you are dead set against this sort of thing happening. I want to ask you why is it? Are you basing your feelings or your opinion right now on this on science or just on feelings or morality here?

SANDY RIOS, CONCERNED WOMEN OF AMERICA: Well, I would have to say that my opinion on this is not based on my own feelings. That would be very dangerous. I think my opinion on this is based on the fact that I do believe there is a God who has laid down a standard, and I don't care how many sitcoms we have with people coming out or how many laws we change, it will not make it true that homosexual sex is OK. It'll always be not OK. It is not my opinion. I believe it is what the creator has designed; he has designed one man to one woman. That was his plan. It's the best one. It still is.

HARRIS: OK, Winnie Stachelberg, what do you say about that?

WINNIE STACHELBERG, HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN: I think that what makes a good parent is unconditional love, and gay people and straight people have that capacity and should be allowed to be the best parents they can be. What we should see in this country is adoption decisions based on what's in the best interest of every child, not on organization from the left and the right saying that gay people can or can't be good parents. What we want to see is parenting professionals making these choices in the best interest of every single child in this country.

HARRIS: What is interesting to many of us who are on the outside watching this debate is things coming out like this report that came out from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Are you both of you familiar with this report?

STACHELBERG: Yes.

RIOS: Yes, I am.

HARRIS: I would like to ask you what you think about this because it seems as I read it, Sandy, that this report is not saying -- I have a copy of it with me here -- I read it this morning -- the report is not saying there is any evidence that children raised by homosexual parents are any different from children that are raised in heterosexual homes.

RIOS: Leon, I'm very familiar with that report, as Winnie is too. The problem with that report is it is based on extremely faulty science. It was put together by a very pro-homosexual researcher. When you follow the numbers -- I'll just give you one example: They say from 1 to 9 million children in this country are parents (sic) of homosexuals. But if you follow their logic and their numbers, the conclusion is then every gay and lesbian person in this country has an average of two to four children.

They use a very small sample, and they have set it up in a way that it does not prove what they say it proves. It's very faulty science. You can have a study that proves anything. We had studies years ago that said that children from divorce do just fine, they get over it, and they are fine. And we know that that's bogus. And yet we were convinced by this campaign years ago that divorce does not affect children. We know that it does.

So I have to tell you that I do not believe that this study proves anything. Now, I'm open to a very fair study to this. I think there should be a very fair study about...

HARRIS: What in your mind would be a fair study? RIOS: They would have to use samples that are equal. In other words, in this particular sample, they used a lot of children from gay parents, and they compared them to children of single mothers, often divorced single mothers. That was one of the problems of the study.

So we need to do a long-term study of children from homosexual couples and children of heterosexual couples, and do it maybe with researchers with a bias on both sides, to really come out with the answer.

HARRIS: As I read it, the reason why they were comparing to women in single parent homes that are headed by a woman is that these children who are being raised by homosexuals -- by lesbians in this particular case -- were being raised that way because there was a divorce because the woman decide to come out as a lesbian.

Let me ask Winnie to weigh in on this before we go on.

STACHELBERG: If I could just add that not only is the American Academy of Pediatrics fully behind gay men and lesbians being parents, but so is the American Medical Association, the Child Welfare League of America, the North American Council on Adopted Children. Organization after organization that have the best interest of children paramount in their missions are behind gay men and lesbians serving as parents.

Again, I just have to say that it is not what the Concerned Women for America or, quite frankly, the Human Rights Campaign think about adoptions that's important; it is what the organizations that work with children every single day think is important. And they support gay men and lesbians serving as parents if it is in the best interest of that child. That's what we see every single day.

HARRIS: Is it clear that there is such a consensus among a majority of those who are doing this kind of work?

STACHELBERG: Absolutely. If you talk to any of the organizations that work with children, that work on adoption, whether it's international or domestic, they all support gay men and lesbian serving as foster care parents as well as adoptive parents. It is the kind of stability and love -- and quite frankly, unconditional love -- that a parent should be able to provide to each child in the country.

We have got over a half million children languishing in the foster care SYDNEY: stem in this nation today. That's unacceptable. To somehow deny gay men and lesbians the ability to serve as those foster care parents or adoptive parents simply because of their sexual orientation -- not about their ability to be good parents -- is wrong.

RIOS: Leon, let me just say that when Winnie talks about those organizations, she is talking about the upper echelon of these professional organizations -- tend to be quite liberal in their viewpoint and pretty much pro-gay. If you were to take a survey among pediatricians you would you be hard-pressed to come up with a majority of them that believe gay parenting is better than heterosexual parenting, or even as good. HARRIS: We may have to try to get something like that done in the meantime, because we're out of time this morning. As we can see, this is not a question that is going to be solved very easily.

We thank you very much for your time this morning.

RIOS: Thank you, Leon.

STACHELBERG: Thank you, Leon.

HARRIS: Winnie Stachelberg and Sandy Rios, thank you very much. Good luck to both of you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com