Gay Adoption: The Best Interests of Children, and the Question of Evidence (Again)

Last week's appeals court decision that threw out the Florida ban on gay adoption has once again highlighted the idiocy of attempting to promote the interests of children by arbitrarily declaring one entire class of people necessarily superior as parents to another entire class - without considering specific parents and and specific children.  The ban was rooted in simple prejudice:

Here is the basic problem with the law. The state of Florida does not want homosexuals to adopt kids because, well, just because they're homosexuals. They can be foster parents, just not adoptive parents.

If I could sum up the court's lengthy ruling in one word, it would be, "Huh?''

That's not surprising given the origin of the ban. It did not come from need or compelling evidence. It came from singer Anita Bryant, who in 1977 convinced lawmakers with this argument: "Since homosexuals cannot reproduce, they must recruit and freshen their ranks."

-Orlando Sentinel

A Fresh Pie in the Face For Anita Bryant's Prejudice

Florida Court Confirms: Gay Adoption Ban Unconstitutional

Florida remains the only US state with a constitutional ban on gay adoption - a ban which is starting to meet substantial political resistance. The political support for the ban is becoming irrelevant, as a series of court decisions have confirmed: anti-gay discrimination is unconstitutional. Two California judges in recent months have found that bans on gay marriage and gay military service are discriminatory and so unconstitutional. This ruling from Florida confirms the pattern: discrimination is not acceptable.

Frank Martin Gill & Partner: Approved Gay Parents

The context for this decision is that four separate lower courts have already approved adoption by suitable gay parents in specific cases, and ruled in each case that the ban is unconstitutional. The present case is the first of the four to have reached the appeals process, in the Miami-Dade Appeals District. If the state appeals the present ruling, the case will reach the state Supreme Court - which is likely to find, as an ever-increasing sequence of courts have done, that discrimination is simply contrary to the American constitution.

This is from Just News:

An appeals court in Miami-Dade County has ruled that Florida's ban on gay adoption unconstitutional.

The Third District Court of Appeal in west Miami-Dade issued the unanimous 3-0 opinion Wednesday morning.

The ruling stems from a case involving a North Miami gay man, Frank Martin Gill, and his partner, who sued to adopt two boys whom they took in as foster children in 2004.

Last year, a trial court judge sided with Gill and his partner, saying the law was unconstitutional. The state challenged the ruling, but now the appeals court has sided with the lower court's decision, saying the law was unconstitutional.

If the state challenges the ruling, the case could end up before the state Supreme Court.

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• Court affirms overturning Fla. gay adoption ban (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Appeals Court Upholds Ruling Declaring Florida's Ban on Gay Adoption Unconstitutional (towleroad.com)
• Florida Court Strikes Down State Ban on Gay Adoptions (blogs.wsj.com)
• Gay Adoption Advances in Florida, Victoria (rooting-for-gay-marriage.blogspot.com)
• Yet Another Court Victory for Gay Marriage, Family Equality: (itsaqueerworld.blogspot.com)
• A 'Less Judgmental' Crist Reviewing Fla. Gay-Adoption Ban (blogs.wsj.com)

Gay Adoption Advances in Florida, Victoria – Worldwide.

Gay adoption has achieved three notable gains recently in Argentina and New South Wales (advancing in both by legislative action, both in the face of strong opposition by the Catholic Church), and in Mexico City, where the Constitutional Court ruled that the city’s law on gay marriage also permitted adoption by same sex couples. Less high profile cases which you may have missed also illustrate how queer families are gaining legal acceptance in many parts of the world – even in states like Florida, which has a constitutional ban on gay adoption.

Florida

Vanessa Alenier and Melanie Leon : Taking on the Florida Ban in Court