Florida Judge Strikes Down Gay Adoption Ban; ACLU Eyes Arkansas Law
Last updated Tuesday, November 25, 2008 8:38 PM CST in News
By John Lyon
THE MORNING NEWS
LITTLE ROCK -- The American Civil Liberties Union scored a victory Tuesday in Florida when a circuit judge declared that state's law banning gays from adopting children unconstitutional.
Representatives of the ACLU, which had challenged the Florida law, said the group is considering the possibility of a similar challenge to Arkansas' law banning unmarried couples from adopting or serving as foster parents.
Arkansas voters approved Initiated Act 1 in the general election this month.
"We are still researching and investigating, trying to figure out whether we're going to challenge the new law in Arkansas," ACLU spokeswoman Chris Hampton said.
The director of the conservative group that authored the Arkansas law said he is confident the law will withstand any challenge.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Cindy Lenderman ruled Tuesday that 47-year-old Martin Gill of North Miami and his male partner can adopt two brothers, ages 4 and 8, whom he has been caring for as a foster parent since 2004. Lederman said Florida's 31-year-old law banning any gay person from adopting violated the equal protection rights of children and prospective adoptive parents with no rational justification.
"Based on evidence presented from experts from all over this country and abroad, it is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent," Lederman said in a 53-page ruling. "Sexual orientation no more leads to psychiatric disorders, alcohol and substance abuse, relationship instability, a lower life expectancy or sexual disorders than race, gender, socioeconomic class or any other demographic characteristic."
Lawyers for the state said they would appeal the ruling, which means a state court is likely to issue a precedent-setting opinion on the law. A different Florida circuit judge's ruling in August that the law was unconstitutional was not appealed and did not have statewide impact.
"The decision (Tuesday) is very encouraging, I think," said Christine Sun, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project. "It just reaffirms that there is just no connection between sexual orientation and the ability to parent."
The ACLU lawyers who handled the Florida case included Leslie Cooper, who also handled the ACLU's 2004 challenge of a policy created by the Arkansas Child Welfare Agency Review Board that banned gays from serving as foster parents.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Timothy Fox ruled in that case the policy was unconstitutional because the board had exceeded its authority by trying to regulate "public morality." The state Supreme Court upheld Fox's ruling in 2006.
On Nov. 4, Arkansas voters approved an initiated act proposed by the conservative Family Council to ban unmarried couples who live together from adopting or serving as foster parents.
Like a similar law in Utah, the Arkansas law applies to all unmarried, cohabiting couples. Jerry Cox, executive director of the Family Council, has said the law seeks to "blunt the gay agenda" in Arkansas, but the Family Council avoided any reference to sexual orientation in the wording in at attempt to make the law constitutionally sound.
Sun said Tuesday while the Arkansas law may be broader than the Florida law, that does not make it more sound.
"Whether it's cohabiting straight couples or gay couples who can't get married in Arkansas, I think both of the laws are similar in that they harm children. These blanket exclusions shrink the pool of available parents" without a rational basis, she said.
Arkansas voters approved a 2004 constitutional amendment, also pushed by the Family Council, to define marriage as between a man and a woman.
Cox said Tuesday the Arkansas adoption law is "very different" from the Florida law.
"This law is patterned after the one in Utah, and the one in Utah has been on the books for a number of years now. If it was constitutionally suspect, the one in Utah would have been struck down and we would not have patterned our law after it," he said.
Cox said the Family Council is "no more concerned now about a lawsuit than we were when we launched the campaign."
Reader Comments (4 comment(s))
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nitsur wrote on Nov 26, 2008 5:26 PM:
maljoir wrote on Nov 27, 2008 8:44 AM:
ozarks wrote on Nov 28, 2008 9:00 AM:
Not already registered?
who'sit wrote on Nov 26, 2008 3:57 PM:
The citizens of Arkansas voted this in and it should stand as the " Will of the People " / " Majority Rules ".
There is a perfectly good reason why the "People" wanted this made into law, a single parent or cohabitating singles are NOT a stable enough environment for children to be fostered into that situation. I do think if a single person, who is already related to the child, should be entitled foster / adopt a child if both their parents are deceased, after a thorough background checks are made by the proper authorities.
And yes, I am a single person and I did vote for this bill because it's the right thing to do ! "