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| Group fights state ban on adoptions by gay people | |
Florida is the only state with such a law on its books. Early last year, New Hampshire repealed a similar law. The Florida Department of Children and Families requests the sexual orientation of prospective adoptive parents on its adoption application. Florida law states that ``no person eligible to adopt under this statute may adopt if that person is a homosexual.'' The state attorney general's office asked U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King to throw out a class-action lawsuit against the state before trial. The judge did not rule Monday on the motion and did not indicate when he would. Casey Walker, a private attorney hired by the state of Florida, argued that the plaintiffs cannot prove they have been injured by the law because they never went through the adoption application process and were therefore not officially denied the right to adopt. The class-action lawsuit was filed in May 1999 by the American Civil Liberties Union and Children First Project on behalf of 11 plaintiffs, including a single gay parent, two foster children and a heterosexual couple who wants a gay relative in Key West to adopt their daughter if they should unexpectedly die. Wayne LaRue Smith, one of the plaintiffs in the case along with his partner, Dan Skahen, and sister and brother-in-law, Brenda and Gregory Bradley, insists that family issues are a private matter. Last year, the Bradleys, who live in Reno, Nev., named Smith in their will as the adoptive parent of their 3-year-old daughter, Christina, should the couple die. Smith said he was honored, but had to tell the Bradleys about Florida's gay and lesbian adoption ban. The Bradleys contacted the ACLU and joined Smith and Skahen in the lawsuit. Smith and Skahen, a Key West real estate agent, are licensed foster parents and recently cared for an 8-month-old girl in their home. They said the experience reaffirmed their desire to adopt children of their own. ``I find it offensive that the state can oversee such a personal decision as to adopt children,'' said Smith, 44, who is a commercial litigation attorney in Key West. ``There are so many kids out there who have been sitting years in foster homes that could be adopted tomorrow if this [ban] weren't in place. This isn't about me meeting my needs or desires. This is about us making a contribution, us helping a child find a good, stable home.'' At the hearing, lawyers opposing the motion to dismiss argued that gays and lesbians have proved to be good parents in other states, and that adoptive kids have had no shortage of heterosexual role models in aunts, uncles, grandparents and clergy. Michael Adams, an attorney and assistant director of the ACLU's Gay and Lesbian Project, said that while similar lawsuits filed in state court have failed, this case is different. Not only is the gay and lesbian adoption lawsuit the first to be filed in Florida's federal court system, it features a more diverse class of plaintiffs. ``What we have here is not only gays and lesbians who believe they'd make good parents, but heterosexual people and even children,'' Adams said. ``We felt this case was strong enough to bring it into federal court.'' In 1997, New Jersey became the first state to legally recognize gay couples as qualified to raise an adopted child, and courts in 18 states also have extended that right, says the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. In other states, laws don't specifically address the issue. Although Smith and Skahen know that many gays and lesbians move out of state to adopt with the intention of returning to Florida, or lie about their sexual orientation on adoption applications, they say they refuse to give up the fight to adopt legally. ``We are well aware that there are other routes to adopt in Florida, but we've been together eight years and want to be recognized as a couple in the eyes of the law,'' Skahen, 33, said. ``Sure, we've thought about moving and maybe that's a possibility if [the lawsuit] doesn't work out. But to give up our livelihood and all that we've established here to pursue adoption, we'll do it but we're not ready to give up yet. I can't think of a better place than Key West to raise a child.'' |
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