A Florida appeals court has ruled there is no rational reason to prevent gay people from adopting children, in a ruling which upheld a gay man's adoption of two young boys. Reuters reports Florida was the only remaining US state to expressly ban adoption by gay men and women, and state officials said after the court ruling the ban would no longer be enforced. They have 30 days to decide whether to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. The plaintiff was Frank Gill, who wants to adopt two half-brothers he had been raising as foster children since 2004, when they were removed from the care of their crack-addicted parents. Gill says he is thrilled the court recognised that the ban did a disservice to children most in need. "This is a giant step toward being able to give our sons the stability and permanency that they are being denied." Court documents say when they were placed with Gill, the older boy did not speak and the younger one had an untreated ear infection. Both had ringworm and other medical problems. Both sides in the case agreed the children were doing well in the care of Gill and his partner. Reuters reports that during the original trial, psychologists, social workers, family experts and a clergyman gave conflicting testimony about the development of children raised by gay people. The court found such children were no more likely to be gay themselves, engage in early sexual experimentation, suffer mental illness or domestic violence, or abuse drugs than children raised by heterosexual people. "It is difficult to see any rational basis in utilising homosexual persons as foster parents or guardians on a temporary or permanent basis, while imposing a blanket prohibition on adoption by those same persons," the ruling states.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 23rd September 2010 - 10:23am