Gay adoption bans amount to state sponsored discrimination against gay people.  Discrimination is the practice of treating people differently based not on individual merit but on their membership to a certain group. The adoption bans are a clear example. Rather than assessing gay couples individually, it is simply assumed that they would all make bad parents because they are gay, while straight couples are assessed based on their individual merit. This breaches the fundamental right of all people to be treated equally under the law and it should be stopped. This principle is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; article 1 "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."1 And also many other national and regional legal texts (e.g. The US Constitution,2 The European Convention on Human Rights).  1 United Nations General Assembly, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights , (accessed 2nd August 2011)  2 James Madison et al., Constitution of the United States ,(accessed 2nd August 2011)