Miami Judge Rules Against Florida Gay Adoption Ban

[tekisui]

MIAMI – A judge on Tuesday ruled that a strict Florida law that blocks gay people from adopting children is unconstitutional, declaring there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman said the 31-year-old law violates equal protection rights for the children and their prospective gay parents, rejecting the state's arguments that there is "a supposed dark cloud hovering over homes of homosexuals and their children."

She noted that gay people are allowed to be foster parents in Florida. "There is no rational basis to prohibit gay parents from adopting," she wrote in a 53-page ruling.

Florida is the only state with an outright ban on gay adoption. Arkansas voters last month approved a measure similar to a law in Utah that bans any unmarried straight or gay couples from adopting or fostering children. Mississippi bans gay couples, but not single gays, from adopting.

The ruling means that Martin Gill, 47, and his male partner can adopt two brothers, ages 4 and 8, whom he has cared for as foster children since December 2004.

"I've never seen myself as less than anybody else," Gill said. "We're very grateful. Today, I've cried the first tears of joy in my life."

He said the two boys have been practicing writing their new last names, and the older one said: "That's what's going to make us a family."

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, who represent Gill, said the case was the first in the nation in which numerous experts in child psychology, social work and other fields testified that there is no science to justify a gay adoption ban.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081126/ap_on_re_us/gay_adoptions

[PeaceNikki]

1. I can't believe that the state argued this case the way that they did.

"The state presented experts who claimed there was a higher incidence of drug and alcohol abuse among gay couples, that they were more unstable than heterosexual unions and that the children of gay couples suffer a societal stigma."

:wtf:

[Zuiderelle]

3. Yeah, don't you love that last part? We "suffer a societal stigma"

So, therefore, we should of course be ostracized, along with our children.

:wtf:

[PeaceNikki]

4. I'd be interested in reading the 53-page ruling. I'd like to think that was addressed.

[joeybee12]

2. Let's see, let gays adopt or have more kids bounced around from

foster home to foster home. What a fucking no-brainer, but the sad things is too many people in thise country have no brains.

But I don't want to be too pissy, because this is actually good news. :toast:

[Ioo]

5. "a supposed dark cloud" - FUCK YOU FLORIDA!!!

"rejecting the state's arguments that there is "a supposed dark cloud hovering over homes of homosexuals and their children.""

You know what Florida (the state) GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!!! THe only dark cloud that hangs over my house or any other house is the dark cloud YOU and your fuck head haters PUT ON OUR HOMES!!!!

My house is loving, it is full of people wanting to make sure we can afford our bills and go to work and the rest of things that make living in America great... if you leave the fuck alone you will see that the "dark cloud" is not on my house, but your mistable lives....

(For the record, I did a lot of growing up in Tampa, went to Hillsborough HS, My mom and dad are in Brooksville, So FUCK YOU FLORIDA)