Now that a
Missouri law banning same-sex sexual contact has been struck
from the books, the state's attorney general says he will
drop his case against a Kansas City lesbian suing for
the right to become a foster parent. Missouri governor
Matt Blunt signed a new law earlier this week
toughening penalties against sexual predators, but the
law also removed the long-standing ban on gay
sex, a key reason the state had sought to prevent Lisa
Johnston from fostering a child, the Associated Press reports.
"The governor's signature took away the last
argument of the state in this case," Scott Holste, a
spokesman for Missouri attorney general Jay Nixon,
said Wednesday, according to the AP. Because of that, "we
are going to be dismissing the appeal."
In 2003, Johnston's application to become a
foster parent was rejected by the Missouri Department
of Social Services, in part because the department
claimed Johnston was not a "reputable character"
because of the state ban on same-sex sexual contact. She
sued, and this February a Jackson County circuit judge
ruled in her favor, ordering social services to reopen
Johnston's application.
But social services appealed to the Missouri
supreme court, where until Wednesday Nixon was set to
argue on behalf of the state. He now believes such an
appeal would be legally invalid, his spokesman says,
according to the AP.
However, the governor strongly disagrees with
Nixon's decision to drop the case, calling it
"outrageous." "We don't believe placing a child with
homosexual parents will provide an appropriate environment
for foster children," Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson told
the AP. "If [Nixon] moves forward with his plans to
drop this case, he is doing so without the consent of
his client."
Adding to the tension is the fact that Nixon, a
Democrat, is running against Blunt, a Republican, for
the governorship in 2008. The race has created plenty
of hostility in recent months, the AP reports.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the
department of social services told the AP that
its policy preventing gay people from becoming foster
parents is still in effect. (The Advocate)
