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Repeal ugly ban on gay adoption already
THE ISSUE:
April 1, 2010
The Florida Legislature is setting its sights on rubbing out some
of the state's most outdated and nonsensical laws, like the requirement
that sheriffs live close enough to the county seat to get there by
horse, or rules that regulate telegraph services that don't even exist
any more.
While "The Repealer Project" is a fine effort to clean
the state's books of the cobwebs of archaic irrelevance, it passes right
over one of the state's most shameful laws, long since ripe for repeal:
the 1977 ban on gay adoption.
Florida remains the only state in
the nation to prohibit gay men and lesbian women from adopting children —
reprehensible not just for the pure ignorance and discrimination on
which the ban is based, but also for its blatant hypocrisy. The state
allows gay men and women to foster children, and history has shown the
homes they provide are no less nurturing than straight couples' homes,
and yet the ban prevents them from making their parenting bonds
permanent.
What does that mean in real terms? Thousands of foster
children languishing in state care are deprived of the many loving homes
that would open up if the ban were dumped.
It shouldn't be this
way, and if the growing court trend holds firm, it won't be for very
long. So far, local judges have allowed gay couples in three cases to
adopt, finding no rational link between sexual orientation and the best
interests of a child.
The courts should, and likely will,
continue to do the right thing in allowing foster children such access
to caring parents. But, really, this is a job for the state Legislature.
It's high time Florida's lawmakers make this issue a priority and
repeal the adoption ban. While many in the Republican-led Legislature
are loathe to touch such a fiery issue, 55 percent of Floridians
responding to a statewide Quinnipac poll in January oppose the ban.
This
year, legislators will have their chance, again, thanks to a bill
sponsored by Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, and Rep. Mary Brandenburg, D-Lake
Worth, that allows gay foster parents to adopt under certain
circumstances. Similar bills have been ignored year after year. Make
this year the year Florida scrubs out this ugly stain and does the right
thing, for the children.
BOTTOM LINE:
Allow gay couples to
adopt.