Constitutional Law

Second Fla. Judge Rules Against Gay Adoption Ban

Another Florida judge has ruled that the state’s ban on gay adoption is unconstitutional. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled earlier this week that there was “no rational basis” for barring gay men and lesbians from adopting children. Lederman’s ruling allows Frank Gill to adopt two boys he and his partner have been raising for four years, The Miami Herald reported. The newspaper noted that a state child abuse investigator had asked Gill to take temporary care of them.

In her 53-page opinion, Lederman said the state ban on gay adoptions precludes “otherwise qualified” lesbians and gay men “from adopting available children,” and “does not promote the interests of children.” The newspaper reported that state officials had argued that gays are “disproportionately more likely to suffer from mental illness or a substance abuse problem than straight people, rendering them less fit to parent ….”

Lederman cited extensive research supporting gay parents. “Based on evidence presented from experts from all over this country and abroad,” she wrote, “it is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person’s ability to parent. 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.”

Earlier this year, Monroe Circuit Judge David J. Audlin Jr., ruled that the state’s gay adoption ban violated the Florida Constitution, which prohibits targeting groups of people for punishment. “Contrary to every child welfare principle, the gay adoption ban operates as a conclusive or irrebuttable presumption that … it is never in the best interest of any adoptee to be adopted by a homosexual.”

The Miami Herald reported that the Florida Attorney General would appeal Lederman’s ruling.  

Full post as published by ACS Blog on November 25, 2008 (boomark / email).