Judge Strikes Fla. Gay Adoption Ban
A Florida judge today invalidated the state’s ban on adoption by lesbians and gay men as unconstitutional. The decision, which has not yet been published, will allow a foster parent in Key West to adopt a teenage boy he has been raising since 2001. A home study by a social worker had highly recommended that the openly gay parent be permitted to adopt the boy who has learning disabilities. Monroe Circuit Judge David J. Audlin Jr. said the state’s 31-year-old ban on gay adoptions was a violation of the Florida Constitution, which prohibits targeting groups of people for punishment. “Contrary to every child welfare principle, the gay adoption ban operates as a conclusive or irrebuttable presumption that … it is never in the best interest of any adoptee to be adopted by a homosexual.”