A Florida judge
has found the state's 31-year ban on gay adoptions to be
unconstitutional, reports the Miami Herald. The
ruling from Judge David Audlin Jr. will allow a gay Key West
resident to adopt the teenage boy he has raised as a
foster parent since 2001. Audlin said the adoption was
in the child's "best interest" and asserted that
barring gays from adopting conflicted with the state
constitution since it targets a specific group for
punishment. Audlin had appointed the foster father to
be the boy's legal guardian in 2006. At a hearing
earlier this year, the order says the boy testified that he
wanted the man to be his "forever father...because I love
him," the Herald reports.
A Florida judge
has found the state's 31-year ban on gay adoptions to be
unconstitutional, reports the Miami Herald. The
ruling from Judge David Audlin Jr. will allow a gay Key West
resident to adopt the teenage boy he has raised as a
foster parent since 2001.
Judge Audlin said
the adoption was in the child's "best interest" and
asserted that barring gays from adopting conflicted with the
state constitution since it targets a specific group
for punishment. Audlin had appointed the foster father
to be the boy's legal guardian in 2006. At a hearing
earlier this year, the order says the boy testified that he
wanted the man to be his "forever father...because I love
him," the Herald reports.
''Contrary to
every child welfare principle,'' Audlin wrote in his
opinion, ''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.''
Florida and
Mississippi are the only two states that currently forbid
gays and lesbians from adopting children. (The
Advocate)
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