Miami Florida Judge Overturns Ban on Gay Adoptions
A 1977 Florida state law that bans gay individuals from adopting has received its biggest challenge thus far: Foster father Frank Martin Gill won his suit to adopt two brothers he has been fostering since 2004.
In her decision this morning, Miami Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled that there was no "rational basis" to prevent the children from being adopted. The case, which marks the first time that a gay adoption case has been taken before a trial court in Florida, seems likely to go before the Florida Supreme Court, which could overturn the ban.
Although several states have de facto bans against gay couples adopting and an unknown number of conservative-leaning courts make it virtually impossible, Florida is the only state that prohibits gay individuals from adopting. But it allows them to be foster parents. That means that when Gill wanted to adopt the two boys he'd fostered for four years, ages 4 and 8, he couldn't, leaving the brothers as official wards of the state.
Read more: Judge in Miami Rules Florida Ban on Gay Adoption Unconstitutional
In her decision this morning, Miami Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled that there was no "rational basis" to prevent the children from being adopted. The case, which marks the first time that a gay adoption case has been taken before a trial court in Florida, seems likely to go before the Florida Supreme Court, which could overturn the ban.
Although several states have de facto bans against gay couples adopting and an unknown number of conservative-leaning courts make it virtually impossible, Florida is the only state that prohibits gay individuals from adopting. But it allows them to be foster parents. That means that when Gill wanted to adopt the two boys he'd fostered for four years, ages 4 and 8, he couldn't, leaving the brothers as official wards of the state.
Read more: Judge in Miami Rules Florida Ban on Gay Adoption Unconstitutional
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by ragnarokfinis on -
This made me almost as happy as the news that Ann Coulter got her mouth wired shut.
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Permalink Reply by Cheril N. Clarke on -
I was pretty happy to finally hear some good news on gay rights coming out of Florida.
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Permalink Reply by Genia Stevens on -
It pisses me off that the state will allow homosexuals to foster a child for years, but they won't allow you to officially adopt them. You're good enough to care for the child when the child is a ward of the state, but you're not good enough to adopt that same child you've taken care of for years? Notice the judge said there was no "rational basis," meaning the ban against gay adoptions is nothing more than religious right-wing homophobia.
I interviewed a conservative who said he was against gay adoption because kids adopted by homosexuals might become gay. WTF?
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Permalink Reply by Cheril N. Clarke on
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People like him just don't get it. Gay people don't make gay children. You either are or you aren't. The voice of Florida, Arkansas and Arizona has unfortunately been drowned out by the passage of Prop 8 in California.
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