Karen Handel, the likely Republican
candidate for Georgia governor, says she would outlaw gay adoption.
Handel, who currently serves as
Georgia's Secretary of State, blasted gay parents in an interview
released Wednesday.
Before the interview
with Atlanta-based NBC affiliate 11 Alive went sour, Handel said
that she objected to gay marriage and any form of legal recognition
for gay and lesbian couples, including domestic partnerships and
civil unions.
When asked about gay parenting, Handel
said she would “absolutely” consider a law banning gay adoption.
“I think that for a child to be in a
household – in a family in a household with a situation where the
parents are not married, as in one man and one woman, is not the best
household for a child,” she told Doug Richards.
Richards, who is traveling with the
Handel campaign, pursued the question further, annoying his subject.
He asked, “It is better or worse than
a single parent household?”
“Doug, I'm really trying to be
straightforward with you but I'm not going to debate all the nuances.
I've made it abundantly clear that I think that marriage is between
a man and a woman. And that's what I believe, and I don't know what
more you would like me to add to that,” she said.
Richards answered that he wanted to
know why Handel believes gay parents “aren't as legitimate” as
their heterosexual counterparts.
To which Handel, sounding like a mother
scolding her child, replied: “Because I don't.”
Florida is the only state that outright
forbids adoption based on sexual orientation. Other states,
including
Arkansas, have enacted laws that limit adoption to married
couples. Such laws adversely affect gay and lesbian couples who are
not allowed to marry. An
appeals court ruling on the constitutionality of Florida's law is
expected any day now.
Handel's bid to become Georgia's next
governor is endorsed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.