Florida Ban on Gay Adoptions Unconstitutional

As a number of media outlets are reporting, including the Miami Herald, in a well written opinion and with plenty of expert testimony to support the decision, a Miami-Dade circuit judge Tuesday declared Florida's 30-year-old ban on gay adoption unconstitutional, allowing a North Miami man to adopt two foster kids he has raised since 2004. In opposing the suit by the foster parents, the State of Florida incredibly relied on the "expert" testimony of two psychologists who were less than objective. One, Dr. George Rekers, is an ordained Baptist minister, was paid an advance retainer of $60,900 by the state, and has authored anti-gay article. The other, Dr. Walter Schumm, likewise could not separate his religious fanaticism from legitimate research and had written an article in which it was stated in part that: we prefer to accept the authority of the Bible as the best guide for sexual decision making, . . . Not surprisingly, the judge based her ruling on the testimony of the numerous other non-Christianist experts. Here are some highlights from the Miami Herald story:

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In a 53-page order that sets the stage for what could become a constitutional showdown, Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman permitted 47-year-old Frank Gill to adopt the 4- and 8-year-old boys he and his partner have raised since just before Christmas four years ago. A child abuse investigator had asked Gill to care for the boys temporarily; they were never able to return to their birth parents.

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Moments after Lederman released the ruling, attorneys for Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced they would appeal the decision to the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami.

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In her ruling, Lederman said children taken into state care have a ''fundamental'' right to be raised in a permanent adoptive home if they cannot be reunited with birth parents. Children whose foster parents are gay, she said, can be deprived of that right under the current law. ''The challenged statute, in precluding otherwise qualified homosexuals from adopting available children, does not promote the interests of children and, in effect, causes harm to the children it is meant to protect,'' Lederman wrote.

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In a ruling that, at times, reads more like a social science research paper, Lederman dissected 30 years worth of psychological and sociological research, concluding that studies overwhelmingly have shown that gay people can parent every bit as effectively as straight people and do no harm to their children.

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''Based on the evidence presented from experts from all over this country and abroad,'' Lederman wrote, ``it is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent. Sexual orientation no more leads to psychiatric disorders, alcohol and substance abuse, relationship instability, a lower life expectancy or sexual disorders than race, gender, socioeconomic class or any other demographic characteristic.