Nov 25, 2008 10:00 am US/Pacific
Court: Florida Gay Adoption Ban Unconstitutional
Frank Gill And His Partner Asked A Miami Judge To Allow Them To Permanently Adopt Two Boys
They Have Been Foster Parents To The Children For 4 Years
MIAMI (CBS) ―
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Miami-Dade Judge Cindy Lederman ruled unconstitutional a state law that bans gay men and lesbians from adopting.
CBS
A Miami-Dade child welfare judge ruled on Tuesday morning that the constitutionality of a state law that bans gay men and lesbians from adopting is unconstitutional and has "no rational basis".
Florida law allows gays to serve as foster parents but not adopt. Florida has one of the strictest bans on gay adoptions in the country, reports CBS station WFOR-TV in Miami.
The decision was handed down by Judge Cindy Lederman on the request by 47-year-old Frank Martin Gill to adopt two young boys he has been raising as foster children for the last four years. The state of Florida has fought in court against Gill's petition to adopt the boys.
Gill has a life partner who is not being identified to protect the confidentiality of a third child who has his last name.
The boys, now four and eight years old, were taken from their crack-smoking, abusive birth parents by the Department of Children and Family Services. The agency, along with the Attorney General's office, defends the state's ban on gay adoption.
A judge in Key West ruled in September that the ban was unconstitutional, but that ruling has had limited legal impact.
The American Civil Liberties Union has sided with Gill in the case and claims the state law is unconstitutional. The ACLU says there is a shortage of parents for adoptions in Florida, where at a given time there are about 1,000 children waiting to be adopted.
The law was adopted by the Florida legislature during Anita Bryant's infamous anti-gay crusade in 1977.
It's likely the ruling could be appealed to the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami, and ultimately decided by the Florida Supreme Court.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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