When Mark* was 21, he began volunteering at a homeless shelter and befriended a family of a single mother and three boys. The mother was addicted to prescription drugs and was in danger of losing her home. The boys had been in and out of foster homes most of their lives.\nMark saw the trouble these boys were in. They had been emotionally and physically abused. \nAfter one particular abusive incident, Mark decided to take on the role as caretaker of the children. \n"I promised them I would never let anything bad happen again," he said.\nAlthough he was still a young college student, Mark became the foster parent of the two younger boys while the oldest boy went to live with his uncle. \nFive years later, the Office of Family and Children came to Mark and asked him if he would adopt the children. Mark, a homosexual, adopted the boys. At the time, Jared was 9 and Michael was 12.\nBut, the process of adopting the boys was not an easy one. \nFor eight hours straight, Mark was drilled by psychologists hired by the OFC, and he faced discrimination because of his religion and his sexual preference, although officials never came out and asked him if he was gay. \nThe OFC wondered why he wanted to take in these troubled children. It even accused him of being a "pervert," although it initially approached him about adopting the children, Mark said. \n"They put me through hell," he said. "They scrutinized everything."\nAlthough Mark did not originally set out to adopt children, he still faced discrimination. \nAs groups are trying to get a bill through to ban homosexual adoption, Mark said homosexuals are taking in the troubled children -- the ones that often no one else wants to take care of.\n"Gay people don't get the cream of the crop," he said. "I'm glad I didn't."\nOne of his adopted sons, now 19, received a full scholarship to play college basketball. The other, 16, is a sophomore in high school and is planning on going to college.\nOpponents to homosexuals adopting children argue that the children grow up with discrimination and emotional scars from being raised by gay couples. Mark and his children's adoption success story should change people's minds, he said.\nMark has been with his partner for eight years. Their relationship has never been a negative issue with the boy's friends or families, Mark said. \n"If it was ever going to be a problem, it would be our problem-not our kids," he said.\nBloomington resident Sue Aquila is a homosexual who has adopted one child. She said studies show that children who are raised by homosexuals are not any different in emotional development. \nAquila said that people's sexual preference should not matter, as long as they can provide a loving, financially and emotionally stable home.\n"The more people that love a child, the better," she said. There are many kids out there that need to be adopted, she noted.\nIU's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Student Support Services coordinator Doug Bauder said another issue raised by opponents is the lack of a solid male and female role model. But gay couples often provide a variety of friends and family to help serve as a role model of the opposite sex, he said.\n"I don't think it's about gender, or should be about gender," he said.\nFor example, Mark's mother, the boys' adoptive grandmother, serves as Michael and Jared's female role model.\nA father himself, Bauder admires gay couples who adopt children. \n"The (gay) parents I know are amazing people," he said.
*Editor's Note: Mark's name has been changed for privacy reasons.
