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To: epicure who wrote (1198)	8/30/2001 4:03:24 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 51774

Talk about sad: Florida Law Banning Gay Adoption Upheld Florida's law banning gays and lesbians from adopting children is constitutional, a federal judge in Miami ruled Thursday. Judge James Lawrence King rejected a lawsuit brought by a gay couple who wanted to legally adopt a 10-year-old boy who is already in their care. King accepted Florida's argument that the state has a legitimate interest in only allowing married heterosexual couples to adopt. "Plaintiffs have not asserted that they can demonstrate that homosexual families are equivalently stable, are able to provide proper gender identification or are no more socially stigmatizing than married heterosexual families," the judge ruled. King did reject Florida's argument that the adoption ban is legitimate because it reflects the state's disapproval of homosexuality. "The Court cannot accept that moral disapproval of homosexuals or homosexuality serves a legitimate state interest," he wrote. Steven Lofton and Douglas Houghton argued that the ban discriminates against homosexuals. Lofton, a foster parent, has raised the child at the center of the case since infancy. Houghton, his partner, is the guardian of a 9-year-old boy. King, however, said in his ruling that "given there is no fundamental right to adopt or be adopted, there can be no fundamental right to apply for adoption." He added that "categorically barring homosexuals from adoption in the best interest of Florida's children is on its face a legitimate purpose." Florida's law is considered the nation's toughest ban on gay adoptions, prohibiting adoptions by any gay man or lesbian. Mississippi and Utah also ban adoptions by same-sex couples. ......... Here is a child raised from infancy by someone who must be providing a decent home. This person cared enough about this child to raise it for 9+ years and now wants to adopt the child. Wonderful, you would think, wouldn't you? Well, you would if you weren't in Florida. Are all men (and women) created equal, or only the heterosexual ones? Are all men and women created equal? Not if you live in Florida. Today it's homosexuality- tomorrow I guess Florida could discriminate for any other reason.