Thereare，however，manyopponentsofgayadoption.Somestateshavespecificallyprohibitedgaymenandwomenfromonthebasisthatitisbetterforchildrentoberaisedbyamotherandafather.Studieshaveshownthatthereislittletruthtothiscontentionandthatchildrenraisedbygayparentsdojustaswellsocially，developmentally，andacademicallyaschildrenraisedbytwoheterosexualparents.Unfortunately，opponentsofgayadoptionoftenbelieveitwouldbebetterforchildrentoremaininorphanagesthanwithgayandlesbianparents.Insomecases，gayandlesbianparentshaveactuallyhadtheirchildrentakenfromthem，aneventwhichhashadseriousemotionalconsequencesforthechild.
24.Isprotectinggaysunderthelawgivingthemspecialprotections？
No，anti-discriminationprotectionsunderthelawforgaysandlesbiansdonotamounttoanyspecialbenefit.Althoughsomearguethatmanygaysandlesbiansarenotdisadvantagedeconomicallyorsocially，moreadvancedresearchandstudiesshowthatthisisnottrue.Gaymenandwomenoftenfaceirrational，andsometimessevere，prejudicefromothermembersofsocietythatimpedestheirabilitytoholdajob，formafamily，andevenobtainpropereducationandhealthcare.Aswithotherdisadvantagedorvulnerablegroupsinsociety，sometimesitisnecessaryforcertainlawstohavespecificprotectionsforgaysandlesbians.Forexample，employmentdiscriminationlawsinmanystatesintheUnitedStatesandcountriesinEuropeprohibitemployersfrommakinganydecisionexplicitlyorimplicitlyonthebasisofanindividual’ssexualorientation.