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The director of issues of the anti-LGBT rights group American Family Association (AFA) on Wednesday claimed that kids were facing "a form of sexual abuse" when they were adopted by same sex couples.

During his Wednesday radio program Focal Point, Bryan Fischer pointed to a debunked study that suggested children with same sex parents had less of a chance of succeeding as adults.

"There is a myth that homosexual couples can be just a good of parents to children as heterosexual couples, as married moms and dads," Fischer insisted. "Absolutely, flatly, totally, completely not true. Same sex parenting is bad for kids period."

"The bottom line, ladies and gentlemen, to put kids into this environment, it's a form of sexual abuse all its own. To adopt kids into a same sex environment is a form of child abuse."

Fischer also explained what it was about same sex relationships that he believes creates a dangerous environment for children.

"The sex that's involved in homosexual behavior, it's unnatural, it's immoral and it is unhealthy," he opined. "We know that it puts the human body to uses for which it was not designed. Whether you believe in evolution or you believe in creation, we can all say, look, the human body was not designed to be used that way. It just wasn't. In fact, I would suggest to you that people who believe in evolution ought to be more opposed to the normalization of homosexuality than evangelicals. Because evolution is supposed to be all about propagation of the species."

Constitutional Accountability Center President Doug Kendall told Mother Jones' Adam Serwer that if the study Fischer cites is valid -- and there is evidence that it's not -- then people were drawing the wrong conclusions.

"If a child born in poverty is less likely to thrive as an adult, no one would argue that poor people can't get married?" Kendall observed. "Even if it's true [that LGBT people's kids do worse], it should not be relevant to the constitutional question of invidious discrimination."

The American Psychological Association has concluded that there is “no scientific evidence that parenting effectiveness is related to parental sexual orientation.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Wednesday announced that it had filed a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s second parent adoption ban, which effective prevents same sex partner’s from adopting children.

Same sex adoptions would protect children by allowing either parent to cover the child with health insurance, ensuring that families can stay together if something happens to the biological parent and granting both parents the right to make medical decisions for children in case of emergency.

“The current policy is discriminatory and doesn’t take into account what’s best for a child,” ACLU senior staff attorney Elizabeth Gill explained. “These parents want the same thing as any other parents: to be able to provide the best possible care and protection for their children. The law should not stand in the way of allowing loving couples to share responsibility for their families.”

(h/t: Right Wing Watch)

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A member of the Fox News Medical A-Team on Thursday warned that legalizing polygamy was inevitable if "narcissistic" LGBT couples were allowed to adopt children.

During a discussion about President Barack Obama's recent "evolution" on marriage equality, psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow wandered off topic to tell Fox Business host Lou Dobbs that there was "some psychology in the background of this issue" that had to do with children being adopted by same sex couples.

"Children in same sex households, unless the donor of sperm or ova -- eggs -- is known, which is unusual, unless that's the case, these kids don't know their biological parents," the Fox News "expert" pointed out. "Now, we don't know the psychological impact of that at all and we need the data, we really do."

"We are making public policy, as you suggest here, on the adoption of children without an understanding of the psychological impact that effect will have on their conduct and behavior," Dobbs agreed. "And we seem to be doing so as though we've been inspired on high to do so. It's really been remarkable the manifestation of our disregard for successive generations."

"And it's the opposite of inspiration on high, which suggests that you would empathize and care for others," Ablow replied. "This is narcissistic. I feel like it so I'm going to do it -- no matter what the science might show. And we need the data."

He added: "But the bottom line is, how did we decide that kids are just fine to grow up absent their biological parents? Because why? Because we love each other. Well, three people can love each other so polygamy has to be close behind. How can you have same sex marriage and not believe that three people can fall in love, which they absolutely can?"

While Ablow obviously has a low opinion of LGBT people (he compared a transgender reality star to an anorexic and heroin addict last year), his problem with adoption is not limited to same sex couples.

In February, the psychiatrist suggested that Media Matters founder David Brock was "dangerous" because he "is an adopted boy."

"He’s a dangerous man, because having followers and waging war," Ablow explained to Fox News host Steve Doocy. "This is an adopted boy who needs to plumb the depths of his psyche. He was adopted. Many adopted children are tremendously well-adjusted, but for some reason, this man feels he’s unloved and unloveable, shunted to the side, and that’s the antidote he feels: unlimited power."

According to the American Psychological Association, "there is no evidence to suggest that lesbian women or gay men are unfit to be parents or that psychosocial development among children of lesbian women or gay men is compromised."

But Ablow has also accused American Psychological Association of being "infected" by "manipulations of the truth on a scale never before known."

(h/t: Media Matters)

As I noted when Piers Morgan had Tony Perkins on his show on CNN this week, if someone is going to allow Tony Perkins on the air, they should be pointing out that his organization, the Family Research Council, has been labelled a hate group and why and not be allowing him to spew hatred towards the gay community unchallenged. This Thursday, Hardball's Chris Matthews did not point out the fact that his group has been labelled a hate group, but this interview was definitely a step in the right direction if he's going to be allowed on the air.

Here's more on that from Media Matters: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews Demonstrates How To Handle Tony Perkins On Television:

During the May 10 edition of MSNBC’s Hardball, host Chris Matthews invited Tony Perkins – president of the anti-gay hate group Family Research Council (FRC) – and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) to discuss the issues of same-sex marriage and adoption.

Perkins’ presence on MSNBC isn’t surprising – the hate group leader has become a regular guest on the network over the past several months, and has typically been treated as a credible, uncontroversial political figure, especially on Hardball.

On Thursday, however, things were different.

For nearly 15 minutes, Matthews, with the help of Frank, grilled Perkins on his views on homosexuality, marriage equality, and same-sex parenting. Matthews challenged Perkins’ anti-gay misinformation, held him accountable for past statements, and demonstrated how out-of-the-mainstream his extreme positions really are.

This is exactly the kind of interview that major news outlets should be conducting when dealing with someone like Perkins.

I'll second that. It was nice to see him put on the defensive for once instead of just being allowed to spew his bigoted talking points like he usually gets away with. This March, Matthews was confronted by the group Faithful America about legitimizing the likes of Perkins with the type of softball interviews we've seen from Matthews with him previously. It looks like maybe their talk with him did some good.