Florida's Gay Adoption Ban Overturned, Crist Puts Law On Hold Pending Appeal Decision

A Miami appeals court ruled 3-0 Wednesday that a 33-year-old ban on adoption by gays and lesbians is unconstitutional, allowing the 2009 adoption by a gay couple of the children they have been fostering for several years to stand.

The St. Augustine Record reports:

"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 opinion 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.' "

The decision, by the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami, means Frank Martin Gill will be allowed to remain the parent of his two sons -- identified only as X.X.G. and N.R.G. -- whom Gill and his longtime partner adopted from the state's foster care system in 2009. Gill had been foster-parenting the boys for several years.

The opinion was agreed upon by the three judges who reviewed the case -- Gerald B. Cope Jr., Frank A. Shepherd and Vance E. Salter -- who wrote a concurring opinion. The 35-page ruling was written by Cope, who also reviewed a similar case this summer involving a lesbian couple in Broward County, Fla.

Florida Governor Charlie Crist has said he will not enforce the ban, pending the decision on whether to appeal the case to the Florida Supreme Court.

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Federal LGBT Adoption Bill Introduced

From The Edge

"If passed, a new bill could restrict federal funding for states with anti-LGBT adoption and foster policies.

The ’Every Child Deserves a Family Act,’ which was introduced by U.S. Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) on Oct. 15, would penalize states with outdated adoption policies that restrict access based on marital status, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

"We got 25,000 kids a year maturing out of the welfare system without permanent foster care or adoptive care, and the prospects of those children having a successful adult life are diminished greatly," Stark told the Washington Blade. "These are kids who end up in the criminal justice system, or end up homeless."

Read the full story here.

NC Court Upholds Adoption Rights for Lesbian Senator

(From Q-Notes.com)

"The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday, Aug. 18, to preserve an adoption by the state’s only openly gay legislator. Sen. Julia Boseman’s (D-New Hanover) former partner, Melissa Jarrell, had sought to void Boseman’s parental rights. Jarrell gave birth to the couple’s six-year-old son, whom Boseman later adopted.

The three judge panel said Jarrell’s and Boseman’s status as a former same-sex couple had no bearing on the case and that the result would have been the same in a case involving a former heterosexual couple.

Boseman’s tumultuous personal life has become public in recent years. The custody battle over the former couple’s son led to revelations that Boseman had smoked marijuana in 2003, a year before election to her Senate seat.

Despite her personal setbacks, Boseman has had a successful legislative career and was re-elected to a third term last November. Boseman was the primary sponsor of the LGBT-inclusive School Violence Prevention Act, which passed the General Assembly this session.

North Carolina law allows single LGBT people to adopt, and has been unclear on the issue of joint adoption and second-parent adoption by same-sex couples. Although North Carolina has no state constitutional amendment addressing the issue of marriage, lawmakers approved in 1996 a statutory Defense of Marriage Act denying same-sex couples any of the rights or privileges of marriage."