aviv_b_artwork | Appeal court: Florida ban on gay adoption unconstitutional

There is no rational reason to prohibit all homosexuals from adopting children, a Florida appeals court said in a ruling that upheld a gay man's adoption of two young boys.

Florida is the only remaining US state to expressly ban adoption by gay men and women without exception, the ruling noted.

A lower court found in 2008 that the ban violated the state constitution's guarantee of equal treatment. It allowed the plaintiff, a gay man named Frank Martin Gill, to adopt two boys - half-brothers he had been raising as foster children since 2004.

The Florida Department of Children and Families said the lower court erred and the adoption was illegal under the state's 33-year-old ban on adoption by gays.

But the state's Third District Court of Appeal in Miami on Wednesday upheld the lower court's finding that "there is no rational basis for the statute."

The children were removed from their home because of abuse and neglect when one was 4 years old and the other 4 months old, and their parents' rights to the boys were terminated by a court.

When they were placed with Gill, the older boy did not speak, the younger one had an untreated ear infection. Both had ringworm and other medical problems, the court documents said.

'Equally good parents'

Both sides in the case, including state officials, agreed that the children were thriving in the care of Gill and his male partner. The parties in the case also agreed "that gay people and heterosexuals make equally good parents," the appellate ruling noted.

"Given a total ban on adoption by homosexual persons, one might expect that this reflected a legislative judgment that homosexual persons are, as a group, unfit to be parents," the opinion states. "No one in this case has made, or even hinted at, any such argument."

"Finally, a piece of 30-year-old prejudice has been struck from the law books in Florida," said Howard Simon, who heads the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida and represented Gill. "This is good news for the advancement of human rights and the children in Florida's troubled foster-care system."

Gov. Charlie Crist lauded the court ruling as "great" and said he would immediately stop enforcing the ban.

During the original trial, psychologists, social workers, family experts and a clergyman gave conflicting testimony about the development of children raised by gays. DCF presented testimony from two university professors — one an ordained Baptist minister, the other a scholar who acknowledged he was guided largely by the Bible — to bolster the agency's contentions below.

The court found such children were no more likely to be homosexuals themselves, engage in early sexual experimentation, suffer mental illness or domestic violence, or abuse drugs than children raised by heterosexuals. (Ministers and bible scholars are not qualified experts on anything but guilt and opression).

The Department of Children and Families argued that children would have better role models and face less discrimination if they were placed in non-homosexual households, preferably with a husband and wife as the parents. (Yes, DCF was sooo worried about the discrimination these children would face. Guess they don't allow adoptions by Jews, Muslims, or people with disabilities based on this principle. No? I'm shocked, I tell you. Shocked.).

But the court said the statute did not accomplish that goal since it allows single people to adopt and it allows gays to serve as foster parents.

"It is difficult to see any rational basis in utilizing homosexual persons as foster parents or guardians on a temporary or permanent basis, while imposing a blanket prohibition on adoption by those same persons," the court said.

Florida also allows people with criminal histories or histories of substance abuse to be considered as adoptive parents on a case-by-case basis, the ruling noted. (Is it any wonder that bad things happend to kids under DCF's watch when they will allow criminals to adopt but not a gay couple).
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Yes the bolding is mine. My snarks are in red.

This is a compelation from several news sources including the Miana Harold, and The St Petersburg Times Of course this will be appealed to the Florida State Supreme Court, but today at least, sanity rules! Does a happy dance!