Original YT playout date: 17 August 2010
Duration: 48:48
This was all about homosexuals and adoption and discussed a recent case in the news. Professor Viktor Huliganov calls in to Fiona about the 34th minute and speaks until the end of this clip, in favour of giving adopted children parents bringing the characteristics of both sexes to the family, but before that at first you hear someone call Bob, stating himself to be a homosexual seeking to adopt with his partner, make his case in favour of allowing such applications for adoption.
Statistics and Credits
Views at the time added to HTV: 944
Likes at the time added to HTV: 7
Dislikes at time added to HTV: 4
Popularity % ” ” ” =L/(L+D): 63.6%
Comments at time added: 30
Total interactions at time added: 41
Total interactions to views 4.3%
Music used: None
Languages used: English
Animals/plants featured: None
Many thanks for this contribution, Alan. You’ve added some very good points.
Fiona was certainly aware. Most of the caller group had some personas, and we tended to know who was who. There was a group chat going on concurrently in Skype and the studio people also had one eye on it so what the caller group did was a fairly open secret. It was just like a fun community, which culminated in a “studio invasion” by a couple of the caller group – all arranged behind the scenes of course and all in the name of entertainment.
However, although this radio programme lasted less than two years it does have a lasting legacy as a lot of us are still connected on Facebook and Fiona herself met her husband on the show. He also had a couple of personas, by the way. They are both lovely people and we are still all in contact on social media.
I think one important point that wasn’t made during the Fiona Paris/Dutton discussion and as far as I’m aware, is hardly ever talked about in any other discussions on this subject, is the fact that children are usually under a lot of peer pressure when they go to school and I would be very surprised if the insensitivity and bluntness of their school classmates did not result in the children being ridiculed. People in general (and I would say children in particular) do not like differences in others and as the majority of children come from families having a mother and a father they will not readily accept those coming from same sex families. The fact that it is it is cruel and insensitive to make children of same-sex families feel wrong or odd, is another issue and not the point at hand. The fact that they would be ridiculed and badly treated by most other children is not really debatable as children can be very cruel to each other on the flimsiest of pretexts. Most parents are aware of this. I believe therefore that for this reason alone it is not fair on the adopted child to be adopted by same-sex couples. I think also that the point you made about the relationship differing between children and fathers and children and mothers is undeniable. They do need the influence of both a father and a mother in order to develop into adults that understand both roles.
Apart from these issues, I think that children who are in need of a stable and loving home could theoretically find it with same-sex parents as they could with dual-sex parents. Also, I do think Fiona had a valid point in saying that in some families the extended family members would not necessarily make good adoptive parents. Thankfully families having members within it that would not be suitable as parents (of their own or adopted children) appears to be rare, but one does hear of such families. I suppose that it is ultimately a very difficult task to place children in need of a home, with the right family for their needs, and it is unsurprising that adoption agencies do get this wrong on occasions.
As a side question, was Fiona aware that you were role-playing or did she accept you as a bona fide Russian caller ?