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xtends full marriage rights to domestic partnerships. ( Fitzgibbons，1999) A growing number of local governments and private corporations have implemented domestic partnership laws or policies that extend some of the legal benefits of marriage to same-*** couples. Generally, however, homo***ual couples in long-term relationships do not have the same legal protection as people in hetero***ual marriages. Under the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, for example, many federal marriage benefits, such as tax breaks and Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid provisions, are denied to gay couples. Adopting children is also problematic for homo***uals. One state, Florida, has laws that explicitly prohibit homo***uals from adopting children. Other states, such as Utah, have administrative rules that prohibit adoptions by unmarried couples, which would preclude gays. Other states allow a same-*** partner to adopt the biological child of the other partner. The vast majority of states do not explicitly prohibit gay couples from adopting. New Hampshire is one of the few states that explicitly allow gay couples to adopt. ( Fitzgibbons，1999) As homo***ual communities became more visible, large numbers of homo***uals—including some prominent people—have openly declared their identity as homo***uals and demanded their right to equal and respectful treatment. There are now openly gay representatives in the Congress of the United States. Across the country openly gay officials have pursued and often won office at both state and local levels of government. Gay and lesbian activists are found in both liberal and conservative political organizations. In 2003 the Episcopal Church USA confirmed an openly gay man as the bishop of New Hampshire, the first gay bishop in an American church. (Li Yinhe, 1998) A few static may explain the actuality more intuitionisticlly: 73% of the general public in the United States in 2001 knew someone who is gay, lesbian, or bi***ual according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. This is the result of a steady increase from 1983 when there were 24%, 43% in 1993, 55% in 1998, or 62% in 2000. The percentage of the general public who say there is more acceptance of LGB people in 2001 than before was 64%. Acceptance was measured on many different levels — 87% of the general public would shop at a store owned by someone who is gay or lesbian all the way down to 46% of the general public would attend a church or synagogue where a minister or rabbi is openly gay or lesbian. 51% of the general public thinks that "homo***ual behavior" is morally wrong. Males and people over 65 years old are more likely to think it is wrong. Among people who don't know someone who is LGB, 61% think the behavior is wrong. Broken down by religion, 60% of evangelical Christians think that it is wrong, whereas 11% with no religious affiliation are against it. 57% of the general public thinks that gays and lesbians experience a lot of prejudice and discrimination, making it the group most believed to experience prejudice and discrimination. (African Americans come in second at 42%). ( Fitzgibbons，1999) In terms of support of public policies, according to the same 2001 study, 76% of the general public think that there should be laws to protect gay and lesbian people from job discrimination, 74% from housing discrimination, 73% for inheritance rights, 70% support health and other employee benefits for domestic partners, 68% support social security benefits,