Court Upholds Fla. Gay Adoption Ban
By AP from the NYTimes on the Web, July 23, 2004
MIAMI -- Florida's ban on adoptions by gays narrowly withstood another legal challenge, but some dissenting federal judges condemned the nation's only such blanket prohibition.
In a 6-6 vote, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta declined Wednesday to reconsider the case of four gay men who had appealed an earlier adverse ruling by a three-judge panel of the court.
One dissenting judge said the law was "irrational" under the Constitution's equal protection clause because it singles out gays.
Another said he would move to change the law if he were a Florida legislator.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the request for the full appeals court to hear the case after the three-judge panel in January ruled against the men, who are foster parents seeking to adopt children in their care.
"Coming this close to having the whole court consider the issue is little consolation to the thousands of children in Florida foster care who are in need of permanent homes," said Leslie Cooper, attorney for the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.
The men wanted the court to overturn a 1977 law that leaves Florida as the only state with a complete ban on adoption by gays, either as a couple or as single parents.
The ACLU said it was reviewing its legal options.
The three-judge panel had ruled the issue was one that should be decided in the Legislature. The state earlier defeated challenges in state courts.
Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday the decision not to reconsider the case "validates Florida's conclusion that it's in the best interest of adopted children to be in homes anchored by both a father and a mother."
But in a sharply worded dissent, Judge Rosemary Barkett noted that no other groups, including child molesters and domestic abusers, are barred from adopting in Florida.
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