ABSTRACT
The Christian and secular right, however, has done just this with regard to lesbians and gays. In Massachusetts in the mid-1980s, then-governor Michael Dukakis enacted a policy that placed a ban on gays serving as adoptive or foster parents. In fact, Dukakis's administration went so far as to remove a child from the home of a gay foster parent over the objections of caseworkers who said it was a successful placement. Children with gay or lesbian parents are sometimes teased by their peers because of the sexual orientation of their parents, although there is wide disagreement about how often this actually occurs. Lesbians are increasingly giving birth to children through the use of donor insemination. Gay and lesbian parents have often come to the attention of the legal system by way of custody decisions following divorce. During the 1990s, high courts across the country struggled with the rights of lesbian and gay parents.
