Florida court strikes down ban on gay and lesbian adoptive parents
Wed. September 22, 2010 11:45 PM by GoPride.com News Staff
Miami, Fla. -
A Florida appeals court has struck down a ban on gay and lesbian adoptive parents, the most stringent such ban in the United States.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running for re-election as an independent, said the state's child welfare agencies would immediately begin to honor the court's decision.
The case involved Frank Martin Gill and his partner, who had adopted two boys in 2008. Gill had taken custody of them as a foster parent in 2004.
At the time, the children were four months and four-years-old. The Miami Herald reports that they arrived at Gill's home in dirty clothes that did not fit. Both had ringworm, and the older boy did not speak.
"The children thrived in [Gill's] household. It is clear to this court that [Gill] is an exceptional parent," the opinion states.
The court said the ban on gay adoptive parents made no sense.
"Given a total ban on adoption by homosexual persons, one might expect that this reflected a legislative judgment that homosexual persons are, as a group, unfit to be parents,' the appeal ruling states. "No one in this case has made, or even hinted at, any such argument. To the contrary, the parties agree `that gay people and heterosexuals make equally good parents.'"
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running for re-election as an independent, said the state's child welfare agencies would immediately begin to honor the court's decision.
The case involved Frank Martin Gill and his partner, who had adopted two boys in 2008. Gill had taken custody of them as a foster parent in 2004.
At the time, the children were four months and four-years-old. The Miami Herald reports that they arrived at Gill's home in dirty clothes that did not fit. Both had ringworm, and the older boy did not speak.
"The children thrived in [Gill's] household. It is clear to this court that [Gill] is an exceptional parent," the opinion states.
The court said the ban on gay adoptive parents made no sense.
"Given a total ban on adoption by homosexual persons, one might expect that this reflected a legislative judgment that homosexual persons are, as a group, unfit to be parents,' the appeal ruling states. "No one in this case has made, or even hinted at, any such argument. To the contrary, the parties agree `that gay people and heterosexuals make equally good parents.'"