Florida’s Anti-Gay Adoption Law Upheld

[Pookie]

ACLU Dismayed by 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Decision Upholding Florida’s Anti-Gay Adoption Law

January 29, 2004


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK—The American Civil Liberties Union today said that is saddened by the decision by the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to uphold a Florida law that prohibits gay people from adopting.

“We are deeply disappointed by the court’s decision,” said Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. “We think the court is wrong in believing that government can continue to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation after the Supreme Court’s decision in Lawrence v. Texas last summer. We think the court is wrong in thinking that the Constitution lets the government assume that sexual orientation has anything to do with good parenting. We are distressed that the court’s decision will leave thousands of children without the homes and the parents they deserve.”

“We intend to do everything we can to make sure that none of the children involved in this case are taken from their families,” Coles added. “We are exploring the legal options and when we have decided what course of action to pursue we will release more details.”

The ACLU brought the lawsuit on behalf of four gay men who would like to adopt in Florida but are prevented from doing so by a state law that ban lesbians and gay men from adopting. The law was passed in 1977 in response to Anita Bryant’s infamous anti-gay campaign.

“We were hoping that the courts would perform one of their most important functions, namely protecting people from the prejudices of legislators that were written into law a quarter of a century ago,” said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida. “If single people can adopt in Florida, if gay people can be foster parents and legal guardians, and if there are thousands of children languishing in foster care, there can be no justification for Florida’s ban on gay adoptions other than impermissible prejudice and hostility toward gay people.”

Even though the state prevents lesbian and gay men from adopting, it frequently relies on gay people to be foster parents to children in need of stable homes, Simon noted. According to the Florida’s Department of Family and Children, there are over 3,400 children in Florida foster care who are in need of homes.

Two of the three families represented by the ACLU are raising Florida foster children. Steven Lofton and his partner Roger Croteau are raising five children, including three foster children from Florida. Although the Florida children -- two 16-year-olds and a 12-year-old -- have never known any other family, they cannot be adopted by Lofton or Croteau because of Florida's law. Wayne Smith and Dan Skahen have willingly taken in many foster children over the years and are now foster parents to six children. Doug Houghton has been the legal guardian of an 11-year-old boy for seven years. Even though the child's biological father wants Houghton to be the legal parent, Houghton can't adopt because of Florida's law.

Every mainstream child advocacy and mental health organization, including the Child Welfare League of America, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association and National Association of Social Workers, is opposed to excluding gay people from adoption. The Child Welfare League of America, Children's Rights, Inc., Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, National Center for Youth Law and the North American Council on Adoptable Children submitted a friend-of-the-court brief asking the court to strike down the ban.

For more information about the case, go to www.lethimstay.org

Source: http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=14813&c=104

The fight continues.

 

[Lady Christabel]

I'm not dismayed, I'm well and fuckin' pissed.

Same sex couples can be foster parents, but can't adopt. Now what sense does that make? Not a damn bit!

The worst thing to ever happen to Florida is named Bush.

 

[Zergplex]

Zergplex Says

Well is anyone really surprised? This is gonna be a long fight...

-Zergplex

 

[Bitchslapper]

It's the Deep South. What did you expect?

 

[deliciously_naughty]

Same sex couples can be foster parents, but can't adopt. Now what sense does that make? Not a damn bit!

And according to the Boston Globe, when the case goes to the Supreme Court (probably this year, next year at the latest)...that exact inconsistency is what is going to kill the case for the state.

The only good thing is that when it goes that far, it will effect national law, not just state laws.

 

[Debbie]

Pookie, I don't know if it's my computer or not but one link wouldn't work for me.

http://www.lethimstay.com/

I think it is so wrong. If you are
a good parent/person you should be able to adopt.

Can the children of the gay parents get their own lawyer and fight?
Stating it is in their best interests to remain with the only family
they have ever known? Surely they have rights too?

 

[Pookie]

Pookie, I don't know if it's my computer or not but one link wouldn't work for me.

http://www.lethimstay.com/

The site must have been down when you tried it. It just opened for me. Try it again and see if it works for you now.

 

[Pookie]

ACLU Asks Appeals Court to Reconsider Decision Upholding Florida’s Anti-Gay Adoption Law

February 18, 2004


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK – The American Civil Liberties Union today asked the United States Court of Appeals in Atlanta to reconsider its recent ruling upholding a Florida law that excludes gay people from adopting.

“The appeals court completely misunderstood the Supreme Court’s ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which says that states can no longer make up reasons to discriminate against gay people,” said Matt Coles, director of the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. “Sexual orientation has nothing to do with a person’s ability to parent, and this law has nothing to do with child welfare. For the sake of the thousands of children in Florida in need of a home, we hope the court will reconsider.”

In a motion filed with the court today, the ACLU asked the court to reconsider the ruling. The three-judge panel that issued the decision could agree to reconsider the case, the full court could decide to do so, or the court could decline to rehear the case at all.

“The Florida law was passed to punish gay people, but the sad, harsh reality is that it harms the 4,800 children who are languishing in Florida’s foster care system and waiting to be adopted into permanent, loving homes,” said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida. “While Florida claims the law is justified because children should be with married mothers and fathers, these children don’t have any permanent family. For a court to accept this justification flies in the face of our Constitution.”

The ACLU brought the lawsuit in 1998 on behalf of four gay men who wanted to adopt in Florida but were preventing from doing so by the adoption ban. The law was passed in 1977 in response to Anita Bryant’s infamous anti-gay campaign. On January 29, 2004, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit issued a decision upholding the law.

While the state currently will not let gay people adopt, it does rely on gay people to be foster parents. Two of the three families represented by the ACLU in the case are raising Florida foster children. Steven Lofton and his partner Roger Croteau are raising five children, including three foster children from Florida. Although the Florida children – two 16-year-olds and a 12-year-old -- have never known any other family, they cannot be adopted by Lofton or Croteau because of Florida's law. Wayne Smith and Dan Skahen have willingly taken in many foster children over the years and are now foster parents to six children. Doug Houghton has been the legal guardian of an 11-year-old boy for seven years. Even though the child's biological father wants Houghton to be the legal parent, Houghton can't adopt because of Florida's law.

Every mainstream child advocacy and mental health organization, including the Child Welfare League of America, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association and National Association of Social Workers, is opposed to excluding gay people from adoption. The Child Welfare League of America, Children's Rights, Inc., Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, National Center for Youth Law and the North American Council on Adoptable Children submitted a friend-of-the-court brief asking the court to strike down the ban.

ACLU legal papers are online at http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=14988&c=104

Source: http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=14990&c=104

 

[MissTaken]

I believe that the law has a responsibility to ensure that children are placed in permanent homes with the best parents possible for those specific children. Clearly, in the cases listed, the children are where they should be and should be permitted to be adopted.

I do believe in gay adoption when the gay couple is the best possible placement for the child. I am not suggesting gay couples as a "last resort". that they be considered as adoptive placements with equal scrutiny as all other potential adoptive parents.

Here in NY, gay couples cannot adopt, but many times, one or the other partners adopts as a single parent with full disclosure to the court concerning their living circumstances and yes, sexual preferances.

However, this florida ruling does ring of pure and adulterated prejudice.

 

[Pookie]

The news isn't good for now ...

In a Six-to-Six Vote, Federal Appeals Court Declines to Reconsider Decision Upholding Florida’s Anti-Gay Adoption Law

July 22, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK— The American Civil Liberties Union today said that it is disappointed that the full United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has declined to reconsider an earlier decision from a three-judge panel, which upheld a Florida law that bans gay people from adopting.

“Coming this close to having the whole court consider the issue is little consolation to the thousands of children in Florida foster care who are in need of permanent homes,” said Leslie Cooper, a staff attorney for the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. “The decision is especially disappointing when you consider the fact that even the judge who wrote the initial decision goes on record as saying the policy behind the ban is misguided.”

The 12-member court’s sharply divided decision was in response to a motion by the ACLU asking the full court to reconsider the three-judge decision from January 29, 2004, which upheld Florida’s anti-gay adoption law. Three of the judges agreed with the ACLU that the ban is unconstitutional, while three additional judges agreed that the Court should reconsider the decision.

“The state has attempted to justify the law by saying that it serves the purpose of getting children placed in families with married couples,” said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida. “But as Judge Barkett stated in her dissenting opinion, the law has nothing to do with that.”

Judge Barkett noted that Florida regularly allows single people to adopt, and pointed out that 30 percent of the adoptions in the state are by single parents. She further noted that given the “backlog” of 3,400 children in the system waiting to be adopted, “the state’s ban on gay adoption does nothing to increase the number of children being adopted, whether by married couples or anyone else.”

Simon continued, “The law was enacted merely out of impermissible hostility to gays and lesbians and that kind of law violates the Constitution.”

Even Judge Birch, who wrote the original decision upholding the ban, said that excluding gay people from the pool of potential adoptive parents is misguided and bad policy, recognizing the fact that gay people like plaintiffs Doug Houghton and Steven Lofton can be devoted parents. He even stated that if he were a member of the legislature he would be opposed to the law.

The ACLU brought a lawsuit on behalf of four gay men who would like to adopt in Florida but are prevented from doing so by a state law that ban lesbians and gay men from adopting. The law was passed in 1977 in response to Anita Bryant’s infamous anti-gay campaign. The children involved in the case are represented by Chris Zawisza and Children First Project.

The ACLU is reviewing the opinions and exploring the legal options.

Source: http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=16151&c=104

 

[lorddragonwolf]

it is sad when people are not allowed to adopt because of their sexual preferences. my mother is gay and i had a good upbringing by her. shame that the government feels that gays can not raise children.

 

[rimmy]

it is sad when people are not allowed to adopt because of their sexual preferences. my mother is gay and i had a good upbringing by her. shame that the government feels that gays can not raise children.

Like all forms of prejudice and censorship, they are born of ignorance and fear.

 

[lorddragonwolf]

Like all forms of prejudice and censorship, they are born of ignorance and fear.

peace

quite true. they believe that children can not be raised by homosexuals. that they will raise them to be gay. the mentallity of some

 

[MystiqDrgn]

I have some amount of hope. My son was born in Florida. On his birthcertificate are the names of Two females. I am his birth mother. An Orange County Judge upheld the second female name could stay on the birth certificate and has ordered that she can legally adopt him without me giving up any parental rights. It's a long process....

The part that sucks is that I still had to put in MY will that she could have custody of him in the event that I die..and if anyone should challenge him. I have named a blood relative with that right knowing full well they would let her raise him.

I am now in VA, near DC. and fighting like mad for parental rights for same sex couples. Be that they adopt a foster child, have their own or otherwise.

~Myst~

 

[MT_Pitcher]

I have some amount of hope. My son was born in Florida. On his birthcertificate are the names of Two females. I am his birth mother. An Orange County Judge upheld the second female name could stay on the birth certificate and has ordered that she can legally adopt him without me giving up any parental rights. It's a long process....

The part that sucks is that I still had to put in MY will that she could have custody of him in the event that I die..and if anyone should challenge him. I have named a blood relative with that right knowing full well they would let her raise him.

I am now in VA, near DC. and fighting like mad for parental rights for same sex couples. Be that they adopt a foster child, have their own or otherwise.

~Myst~

It's sad that people's rights are being trampled just to score voting points with the religious right.
While I am not gay or Bi myself, I have many friends and some family who are, and I find them to be if anything, more loving than a lot of the "straight" people out there.
Isn't that what the children need? Love?

 

[Pookie]

The news isn't good for now ...

And the news gets worse ...

ACLU Disappointed the Supreme Court Will Not Hear an Appeal in Case Challenging Florida’s Anti-Gay Adoption Law

January 10, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Vows to Ensure Families Involved in the Lawsuit Stay Together

NEW YORK - The American Civil Liberties Union today said that it was disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to hear an appeal in its lawsuit challenging a Florida law that bans gay people from adopting.

"It is disappointing that the Court will not review the earlier ruling upholding the ban. There are more than 8,000 children in Florida foster care, some of whom surely would have found permanent homes if the law had been struck down," said Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. "No judge in this case ever looked at the social science on the ability of gay people to parent. Since this case was decided, however, a court in Little Rock heard from the top experts in America and concluded that sexual orientation has nothing to do with whether someone is a good parent."

"The Florida ban flies in the face of the positions of every major child welfare organization, many of which have come out publicly against this law," added Chris Zawisza, an attorney on behalf of Florida’s Children First, which is representing the children involved in the case. "This law is bad public policy that does real harm to children."

The ACLU asked the Supreme Court to hear an appeal in the case after the Federal Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit narrowly upheld the ban. By a vote of six-to-six, the full court declined to reconsider an earlier decision by a three-member panel of the appeals court upholding the law. The law was enacted by the state legislature in 1977, in the midst of Anita Bryant’s anti-gay crusade. The ACLU filed a challenge to the law in 1999.

"As far as the kids directly involved in this lawsuit are concerned, this case is far from over," said Leslie Cooper, a staff attorney for the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project who worked on the case. "We’ll fight tooth and nail through local juvenile courts to ensure these families are not torn apart."

Any move by the state to change the placement of any of the children involved in the case would have to be approved by a family court or other judge, in which case the ACLU would fight vigorously to keep the families intact.

Although the state bars gay people from adopting, it has no restriction on gay people serving as foster parents. In fact, two of the three families involved in the case are raising Florida foster children. Steven Lofton and his partner Roger Croteau are raising five children, including three foster children from Florida. Although the children - two 17-year-olds and a 13-year-old -- have never known any other family, they cannot be adopted by Lofton or Croteau because of Florida’s law. Wayne Smith and Dan Skahen are now foster parents to two children. A family court judge issued a novel court order in 2002 granting Smith and Skahen "permanent legal custody" to one of their two children in an effort to provide the child with greater family security. Doug Houghton has been the legal guardian for nine years of a boy who is now nearly 13 years old. Even though the child’s biological father would prefer for Houghton to be the legal parent, Houghton can’t adopt because of the law.

"By denying our request to hear this case," said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida, "the Supreme Court, sadly, has allowed the lives of thousands of children adrift in Florida’s scandal-ridden foster care system to be governed by the ugly prejudices of legislators - not even our current legislators, but the prejudices of Florida lawmakers a generation ago."

The ACLU is committed to abolishing this law and is considering other legal options to challenge it.

Additional information about the lawsuit is available at www.lethimstay.com. The ACLU has also published a new edition of Too High a Price: The Case Against Restricting Gay Parenting, which includes detailed information about the social science research on gay parenting and explains why restricting gay parenting is bad public policy. For a free copy of the book, please e-mail getequal@aclu.org. A downloadable version of the book is available online at http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=17245&c=104

 

[Netzach]

This is excruciating. I became aware of the case when I saw Houghton and his son highlighted on a film on gay dads that the NYC area PBS station aired late night on Father's Day (pretty cool how about prime time?)

I wonder what the other options are for this case? Where it can possibly go from here? Sounds like it's open-season on families in FL.

 

[John Doe]

This is excruciating. I became aware of the case when I saw Houghton and his son highlighted on a film on gay dads that the NYC area PBS station aired late night on Father's Day (pretty cool how about prime time?)

PBS hardly ever airs anything good in primetime anymore, unless it's a drive.

 

[nihil0002]