Constitutional Law

"In the Life" Profiles ACLU Client Martin Gill

By Suzanne Ito, ACLU

Late last month, we celebrated a victory in a case the ACLU brought on behalf of Martin Gill, who challenged the Florida state law that bars gay people from adopting. In that victory, the state's 3rd District Court of Appeals found the adoption law violated the state constitution, upholding a similar decision by a family court in 2008. Gill, with his partner, has fostered two brothers—now ages 6 and 10—for the past 5 years.

In the Life profiled Gill's case, and features Martin Gill, ACLU of Florida Executive Director Howard Simon, and former ACLU of Florida Director of Public Policy Courtenay Strickland. The episode gives a brief history of the anti-gay adoption law and also features interviews of the reporters who broke the story about George Rekers, the "expert witness" the state of Florida paid to testify at the Gill trial who was caught returning from a European vacation with a male escort.

The episode, called "Surviving the Past," will air on your local PBS station. Check local listings, or watch the entire episode online. (If you're in New York, it'll be on tonight at 10:30 p.m. EDT on channel 13.)

The state of Florida has until October 22 to appeal the 3rd District Court's decision. Stay tuned!

Full post as published by Blog of Rights on October 07, 2010 (boomark / email).