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Ban on Lesbian and Gay Adoptions Challenged
Vowing to overturn the only law in the nation that bans gays and lesbians from adopting children, the American Civil Liberties Union and Children First Project has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Florida on behalf of children who are being denied loving adoptive homes and the gay men and lesbians who wish to adopt them. Children First Project, a Florida advocacy organization, is representing the children in the case, the ACLU is representing the adults.
Florida's 1977 law passed in the wake of Anita Bryant's anti-gay "Save Our Children" campaign bans any gay man or lesbian from adopting. The ACLU's seven clients include a gay man who with his partner has raised three foster children since infancy, other individuals who wish to become parents, and a heterosexual couple who have asked a gay relative in Florida to adopt their children in the event of their deaths.
Florida is the only state where children are denied adoptive parents on the basis of the sexual orientation of their potential adoptive parents.
In the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Key West, the ACLU and Children First Project said that the law ignores the best interests of children by precluding an entire class of qualified adults from adopting, rather than making adoption decisions on a casebycase basis.
The lawsuit charges that the discriminatory adoption policy violates both the children's and adults' constitutional rights to equal protection, privacy, intimate association and family integrity.
"Not only does this law blatantly discriminate against gays and lesbians, but it robs needy children of the opportunity to live in stable, loving families," said Michael Adams, Associate Director of the ACLU's National Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.
According to the state's own statistics, more than 2,000 Florida children now in foster care are awaiting adoption. A significant number of lesbians and gay men who currently serve as foster parents as well as others who are not currently foster parents would apply to adopt were it not for the discriminatory law.
The two children named individually in the class action, "John Doe" and "John Roe," are being raised by gay parents who wish to adopt them. "It would be devastating for these children to be removed from the only home they know," said Christina A. Zawisza, an attorney with Children First Project. "Adoption affords them unassailable legal protection."
The adults represented in the lawsuit are:
- Steven Lofton, 41, of Oregon. Lofton and his partner of 15 years, Roger Croteau, 43, are both registered nurses with a combined 20 years of experience in pediatrics. Lofton is the foster parent of three children, ages 811, whom he and his partner have raised since birth. The two recently moved their family from Florida to Oregon. All of the children are wards of the state of Florida; one of them is now available for adoption.
- Wayne Smith, 43, and Daniel Skahen, 32, of Key West. Smith, an attorney, and Skahen, a real estate broker, have lived together in a committed relationship for more than six years, and they would like to adopt children but are disqualified from doing so by Florida law because they are gay.
- Brenda Lynn Bradley, 36, and Gregory Dale Bradley, 39, of Reno, Nevada. Brenda sister of Wayne Smith and her husband Gregory have been married for seven years and have a twoyearold daughter. It is the Bradleys' wish for Smith to adopt their daughter in the event of their deaths. However, because Smith is gay, their wishes cannot be honored under the Florida law, even though he is the girl's biological uncle.
- Angela Gilmore, 36, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University who was named "Professor of the Year" in 1995, shares a committed relationship with her female partner and hopes one day to adopt a child.
- Douglas Houghton, 36, of Miami, a clinical nurse specialist in a hospital trauma unit, who has for the past four years been the legal guardian of and wants to adopt - sevenyearold "John Roe."
Two of the three foster children being raised by Lofton and his partner Roger Croteau are HIV positive; the third, HIVpositive at birth, no longer tests positive. Lofton cares for the children fulltime at home and administers all of their medications. Florida's Children's Home Society the agency that placed the three children with Lofton - created the "Lofton/Croteau Award" for outstanding foster parenting and in 1998 honored them as the first recipients.
While the three children are not biologically related, they have all formed deep attachments with each other as well as to the men they call "Dad." "Our children have the same right to a loving family as anyone else, without fear that the state of Florida will take it all away," said Lofton.
"If successful, this lawsuit will remove an outdated, blanket prohibition on gay and lesbian adults becoming adoptive parents, a law that is based on little more than ignorance and prejudice," said ACLU of Florida Howard Simon.
Currently, six states around the country (Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah) are considering or have recently considered bans on gay and lesbian foster care and/or adoption. Earlier this month, the ACLU filed a challenge to an Arkansas policy prohibiting qualified gays and lesbians and any heterosexuals who live with them from serving as foster parents.
At the same time, many states have moved to safeguard the interests of children with gay or lesbian parents. At least 21 states have granted coparent adoptions to lesbian and gay couples, ensuring that their children can enjoy the benefits of having two legal parents, especially if one of the parents dies or becomes incapacitated.
The case is Lofton v. Butterworth. Attorneys representing the adult clients are Michael Adams and Leslie Cooper of the ACLU's National Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, Andrew H. Kayton, ACLU of Florida Legal Director, and ACLU cooperating attorneys Karen Coolman Amlong of Ft. Lauderdale and Steven Kozlowski and Elizabeth Schwartz of Miami. Attorneys for the children are John M. Ratliff and Christina A. Zawisza of Children First Project at the Shepard Broad Law Center at Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale.
