The LGBT Project began a trial yesterday in family court in Miami challenging a Florida law that bars lesbians and gay men from adopting in the state. The ACLU is representing a gay man, Martin Gill, who, along with his partner, has been raising two foster children of the state. The ACLU is asking the court declare the Florida ban unconstitutional and to allow our client to adopt the children, who are siblings the couple have been raising for the past four years.
One of the children was four and the other a baby when the couple took them into their home in North Miami just before Christmas 2004. Although the couple had grown weary of having their hearts broken after a string of temporary placements, they couldn’t resist the opportunity to give the kids a special Christmas, even though they were told that the placements would be temporary. Over time it became clear that the children would not be returned to their biological parents, and in 2006, a family court judge terminated the parental rights of the biological parents. Meanwhile, the children have thrived in their new home. The older of the two, now 8, is doing much better in school and the younger, 4, is right on track developmentally. Both the lawyer and the guardian representing the children have recommended to the court that Martin be allowed to adopt the children.
This is not the first time the ACLU has challenged the law barring lesbian and gay men from adopting, which was passed in 1977 as a result of an anti-gay crusade led by the former beauty queen and Florida orange juice spokesperson Anita Bryant. This time, however, the ACLU will be presenting the testimony of some of the world’s most respected experts on child welfare and development to refute the outdated stereotypes and myths about the ability of lesbians and gay men to parent that have been used to keep this law on the books. That strategy proved successful in striking down an Arkansas policy that bared lesbians and gay men from serving as foster parents there.
More than three decades of social science research has repeatedly and consistently shown that same-sex parents are just as capable of making good parents as opposite-sex parents and their children are just as well adjusted. Categorical bans like the Florida law barring gay people from adopting don’t do a thing to help protect children. All potential adoptive parents are thoroughly screened. Categorical bans only serve to reduce the pool of potential parents who are willing to adopt, making it that much harder for the state to find homes for the children in need. That’s why all the respected child welfare organizations and experts oppose laws like Florida’s.
According to a Miami Herald story about the case that appeared today, there are 3,270 foster children in the state who are available for adoption that the state is trying to find permanent homes. For the sake of the two children being raised by Martin and his partner, as well as the 3,268 other children in the state who are in need of homes, we’re hoping this time the courts put the needs of children first and recognize it’s time for this law to go.
