Home » Take Action » Become a Student Activist » Case of the Month Archives » December 1999
Overview of the Lofton Case
Steven Lofton and Roger Croteau have been in a committed relationship for 15 years. Lofton is foster parent to three children, ages 8-11, whom the couple have raised since birth. The eight-year-old is now available for adoption and Lofton and Croteau are eager to make their family bond a legal one. Florida's law makes this impossible, however, despite the fact that the three children are deeply attached to each other and to the men they call "Dad." Two of the three children are HIV-positive; the third, HIV-positive at birth, no longer tests positive. Lofton cares for the children full-time at home and provides much of their medical care. As registered nurses with a combined 20 years of experience in pediatrics, Lofton and Croteau could hardly be more qualified parents. The Florida Children's Home Society, the agency that placed the three children in their care, confirmed this when it created an award for outstanding foster parenting in their name – the "Lofton/Croteau Award" – and honored them as the first recipients. "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," Lofton says.
The other adults in the case include Wayne Smith and Daniel Skahen of Key West, Brenda and Gregory Bradley of Reno, Nevada, Angela Gilmore of Broward County, and Douglas Houghton of Miami.
Wayne Smith and Daniel Skahen would like to adopt needy children but are disqualified because they are gay. Smith, an attorney, and Skahen, a real estate broker, are successful in their careers, active in their community, and have been in a committed relationship for more than six years. Although they've considered leaving Florida in order to adopt, they don't want to leave the community in which they have put down roots. The couple also shares their home with an 89-year-old woman – the mother of a friend who passed away, she came to live with them after her husband died and has become "one of the family."
Brenda Bradley is Wayne Smith's sister. She and her husband Gregory have been married for seven years and have a two-year-old daughter. In the event of their deaths, the Bradleys have asked Smith and Skahen to adopt their daughter, but despite the fact that Smith is the girl's biological uncle, their wishes cannot be honored under current Florida law.
Angela Gilmore is in a similar situation to Smith and Skahen. A law professor at Nova Southeastern University who was named "Professor of the Year" in 1995, she shares a committed relationship with her female partner and hopes one day to adopt a child. Like Smith and Skahen, she is prohibited from doing so because she is gay.
Douglas Houghton is the legal guardian of the other child named in the lawsuit, a seven-year-old identified as "John Roe." Roe's biological father, his only living legal parent, is unable to care for him and wishes Houghton to adopt him. Houghton, a nurse at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, has been the child's guardian since he was four years old, and the two have a loving, bonded relationship. Roe has only limited contact with his biological father, who is ready to terminate his parental rights so that the adoption can be completed. Houghton would like to adopt Roe, but as a gay man he is automatically disqualified by Florida law.
"It would be devastating for these children to be removed from the only home they know," says Christina A. Zawisza, an attorney with Children First Project. "Adoption affords the unassailable legal protection."
Recognizing that lesbians and gay men can be good parents, the vast majority of states no longer deny custody or visitation to a person based on sexual orientation. State agencies and courts now apply a "best interest of the child" standard to decide these cases. Using this standard, more than 22 states to date have allowed lesbians and gay men to adopt children. The Child Welfare League of America, the American Psychological Association, and The North American Council on Adoptable Children – all organizations with expertise in child welfare, foster care, and adoption – have issued statements clearly rejecting the use of sexual orientation as a basis for disqualifying prospective parents for children in need.
"If successful, this lawsuit will remove an outdated, blanket prohibition on gay and lesbian adults becoming adoptive parents, a law that is based in little more than ignorance and prejudice," said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida.
