As a Miami appeals court weighs the constitutionality of Florida’s gay adoption ban, a circuit court judge in Miami this month issued the third ruling against the ban in the past year.

According to The Miami Herald, Miami-Dade circuit judge Maria Sampedro-Iglesia wrote, "There is no rational connection between sexual orientation and what is or is not in the best interest of a child,'' when she ruled that Vanessa Alenier could adopt a one-year-old family member as her son.

Alenier, 34, lives with her partner, Melanie Leon, near downtown Hollywood.

“While the 1977 law remains in limbo, Sampedro-Iglesia's ruling suggests some state court judges already have made up their minds about gay adoption, a thorny political issue in a state with a significant social conservative streak,” reports the Herald.

The Florida Department of Children and Families has not decided whether it will appeal Sampedro-Iglesia's ruling.

The state is appealing one of two earlier rulings in favor of adoption by gays. That case, Gill v. DCF, is under review in the third district court of appeal, with a decision expected soon.