Gay rights leaders in Florida -- the only state that explicitly bars
gay couples from adopting -- are hopeful that a recently introduced federal
adoption bill will make the state rethink its discriminatory law.

California congressman Pete Stark last week introduced the Every Child Deserves a Family Act, which would cut off federal
funding for any state program or agency that
receives federal assistance for adoption or foster care placements but fails to comply with the nondiscrimination policies set forth in the
legislation. Advocates hope that states will abandon discriminatory bans on adoption by same-sex couples if their funding is threatened by the federal
government.

Florida's discriminatory adoption law, a remnant of the Anita Bryant antigay crusade
of the 1970s, would be affected by Stark's bill should it
pass. Civil rights leaders have been trying to reverse Florida's law
for years; the state is currently appealing a Miami-Dade circuit
judge's 2008 ruling that a Florida man's sexual orientation should not preclude him from adopting his two foster children.

OnTopMag.com reports that Florida's gay advocates are getting together behind Stark. Cathy James, president of Securing
Our Children's Rights, a group advocating for repeal
of the Florida ban, promised to work with Stark's office to pass his bill, comparing his measure to the
Adoptions and Safe Families Act of 1977, which imposed
"significant financial penalties on states that do not meet specific
federal goals."

Florida's law states, “No person
eligible to adopt under this statute may adopt if that person is a
homosexual.”

Other states have banned adoption by gay couples implicitly; a recently passed Arkansas law bars unmarried couples from adopting, effectively eliminating same-sex couples, who cannot legally marry in the state.