The purpose of the rally was to fill baby strollers with letters opposing the bills. The letter-filled strollers were presented to state legislators and other elected officials March 16 and 17 at Lesbian Gay Rights Lobby's Family Rally Day and Lobby Day in Austin.

House Bill 194 prohibits gay, lesbian or bisexual persons from becoming a foster parent and requires an investigation into foster parent applicants' sexual orientation. The same legislation was filed in 1999, but due to strong opposition, it failed to make it out of the State Affairs Committee. This bill is sponsored by state Rep. Robert Talton from Pasadena.

House Bill 916 would require petitions for adoption by more than one person to be "filed by only one man and one woman," thus prohibiting same-sex couples to adopt children. Bill 916 is sponsored by state Rep. Sid Miller from Stephenville, Texas.

Both bills have been presented to the 78th Texas Legislature, and will be decided before the legislative session ends in August. If passed, both bills would take effect Sept. 1.

The rally was sponsored by the groups Children Before Politics and Support, Educate and Advocate for Change in the hopes of raising awareness about the bills and generating support for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.

"We held the rally to keep the bills from coming out of committee. If they come out of the committees, they will get passed because of the makeup of the legislature this term," said Julie Walker, vice president of SEA Change and social work graduate student at the University of Houston. "We had over a thousand letters signed that we're taking to Austin in the strollers."

Speakers at the Stroll-In included Annise Parker, Houston city council member; Houston attorneys Mitchell Katine and Connie Moore; Eva Thibaudeau-Graczyk, licensed master of social work; and Stephen "Arch" Erich, assistant professor of social work at UH-Clear Lake.

Erich was asked to speak at the rally about his research supporting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender adoptive parents.

"I am very honored and very humbled to be a part of this," Erich said at the Stroll-In.

He became involved with research on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender parenting as a part of his duty as a social worker and educator. While looking for research on GLBT adoptive and foster parenting, Erich found none, so he began conducting his own. Erich's study involved 47 gay or lesbian adoptive parents and their 68 adopted children, and 25 heterosexual adoptive parents and their 43 adopted children.

Demographic, historical and behavioral information was gathered from the 72 adoptive parents about their 111 adopted children. Erich's study did not find "any statistically significant differences between gay and lesbian adoptive parents and their heterosexual counterparts regarding family functioning."

Furthermore, Erich's findings indicate that "an applicant's sexual preference/orientation is not a viable criterion for determining the suitability of potential adoptive parents."

"I have known many gay and lesbian couples who have adopted children, and I am amazed by in large at how well they are doing," Erich said.

Other speakers at the Stroll-In stressed the implications of the proposed bills on foster and adopted children and urged audience members to contact state legislators to stop the bills from being passed.

"It is very difficult to get rid of a bad law after it's been instated....The laws proposed are not directed at me or my partner, it's directed at my children," said Katine who, along with his male life partner, has two adopted children.

"Everything we do in life has consequences, political impact," Parker said as she encouraged listeners to take a stand against the proposed legislation. "Sometimes you have to stand up and push the mountain down, break the rocks, create the tidal wave that changes the world."

It is estimated that there are between 10 and 50 thousand children in Texas in the foster care and adoption system; 20,000 children are left without foster home placement each year.

Information obtained in the 2000 U.S. Census disclosed that there are 594,391 same-sex households in the United States, 301,026 of which are male partners and 293,365 are female partners.

Approximately one third, or 34.3 percent, of the female partner households and one fifth, or 22.3 percent, of male partner households are raising children. In Texas, there are 42,912 same-sex households, with 21,740 male partner households and 21,172 female partner households. Of the same-sex households in Texas, 40.9 percent of female partner households and 27.3 percent of male partner households are raising children.

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