Court: Florida ban on gay adoption unconstitutional

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Miami Herald

A Miami appeals court ruled Wednesday that Florida's ban on gays adopting is unconstitutional and affirmed the controversial adoption of two foster children by a gay North Miami couple.

The unanimous 3-0 decision deals a critical blow to Florida's 33-year-old law banning adoption by gay men and lesbians, and most likely sends the case to Florida's highest court for resolution.

"Given a total ban on adoption by homosexual persons, one might expect that this reflected a legislative judgment that homosexual persons are, as a group, unfit to be parents," the opinion states. "No one in this case has made, or even hinted at, any such argument.

"To the contrary, the parties agree ‘that gay people and heterosexuals make equally good parents.' ''

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/22/1836741/court-rules-gay-adoption-ban-unconstitutional.html

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[defendandprotect]

2. Let's make clear ... sexual abusers of children are male hetereosexuals .....

From "same-sex -- marriage in the United States
Focus on the Facts" -- Sean Cahill, PH.D
Lexington Books -- 2004
See: Footnote

A 1998 Study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that 90% of pedophiles are men, and 95% of these individuals are hetereosexual.

Research has indicated that gay men and lesbians are less likely than heteeosexual to sexually abuse children.

Perhaps the most egregious and damaging claim promulgaed by anti-gay groups is the claim that homosexuality is intrinisically linked to pedophiia and child sexual abuse.
The social science research on sexual orientation and child sexual abuse clearly disproves the claim that homosexuals are more likely to molest children. A 1998 study in the Journal of the American Medical Assocation found that 90% of pedophiles are men, and 95% of these individuals are hetereosexual. One researcher explained this statistic by noting, "Gay men desire consensual sexual relations with other adult men. Pedophiles are usually adult men who are sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children. They are rarely sexually attracted to other adults. In fact, research has indicated that gay men and lesbians are LESS likely than heterosexuals to sexually abuse children. Two studies that examined the sexual orientation of convicted child molesters found that less than 1% in one study and 0% in the other were lesbian or gay. One psychologist reviewed the existing social science literature on the relationship between sexuality and child sexual abuse and found that "a gay man is no more likely than a straight man to perpetrate sexual activity with children." Further, "cases of perpetration of sexual behavior with a pre-pubescent child by an adult lesbian are virtually nonexistent."

Gay rights activists, like all advocates for children's welfare, oppose child sexual abuse and support equitable age of consent laws that help prevent and punish such abuse.

At least 110,000 children are waiting to be adopted in the US. Approximately 588,000 children are currently in foster care. Barring gay men and lebians from adopting or foster parenting decreases the number of potential suitable homes for children in need.
Children who remain in foster care for much of their childhood, as do tens of thousands of American children, are more likely to have emotional problems. Some children in foster care live in 20 or more homes by the time they reach the age of 18. Barring gay men and lesbians from adopting or foster parenting is not simply unjust and unethical; it also decreases the number of potential suitable homes for children in need.

Research shows that children raised by gay and lesbian parents are not disadvantaged vis-a-vis their peers raised by hetereosexual parents.

Footnote 65 -- p.123
A review of 352 medical records of children evaluated for sexual abuse during a 12-month period at a Denver chidlren's hospital found that less than 1% had been abused by a gay man or a lesbian. Of 269 adult perpetrators of child abuse identified among the 352 cases of abuse, only two were gay or lesbian. The vast majority of the children in the study (82%) "were suspected of being abused by a man or a woman who was, or had been, in a hetereosexual relationship with a relative of the child." And the review concluded that in this sample, " a child's risk of being molested by his or her relative's heterosexual partner is over 100X greater by someone who might be identifiable as being homosexual, lesbian, or bisexual."
Jenny, C., and Roesler, T.A. (1994)

Are children at risk for sexual abuse by homosexuals? Pediatrics. 94(1).p.44.
In an earlierstudy of convicted male child molesters in Massachusetts, none of the 175 men were found to have an exclusively homosexual adult sexual orientation orto be primarily attracted to other adult men.

Groth, A.N., and Birnbaum, H.J. (1978).
Adult sexual orientation and attraction to underage persons.
Archives of Sexual Behavior.7(3).pp.175-181.

Also : The right-wing "Family Research Council" notes/confirms findings that "almost all child sexual abuse is committed by men."

[COLGATE4]

3. 33 years late, but better late than never. Let's hope that the Fla

Supremes don't decide to overturn it - these days the crazy in Florida is pretty rampant.

[Dappleganger]

4. Big fat K&R

thanks!

[No Elephants]

5. Fit to be foster parents, but not to be adoptive parents of the same child? Hard argument to make.

And how evil do you have to be even to try to make it?

[DesertFlower]

6. K&R. nt

[jeremyfive]

7. Isn't It Amazing how Appallingly Backward Florida Is?

Ashamed and disgusted, I plan to escape this state very soon now.

[Tx4obama]

8. Story made the front page of CNN. Link below

Top of the page on the left: http://www.cnn.com/

Florida appeals court strikes down gay adoption ban
Full article link: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/22/florida.gay.adoptions/index.html?hpt=T1

[Tx4obama]

9. And now it's the top story on the front page of Huffington Post..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

p.s. Considering the news was posted here on DU at 10:27 AM - it took CNN and HuffPo quite a long time to catch up :)

[t0dd]

10. K&R. nt

[voteearlyvoteoften]

11. Finally nt

[Le Taz Hot]

12. Of all the wrong-headed,

backwards, knuckle-dragging discriminatory laws, this one tops them all. Most sane people would consider it a no-brainer when given the choice of having a child languish in an orphanage OR be adopted by loving parents who want him/her. Good for the Court of Appeals!

[Evasporque]

13. The courts just keep passing the buck on gay rights...

stalling, burying and the gay hate keeps growing and adding more legal road blocks that need to be overturned in a 20 year court crawl.

[Roland99]

14. Rubio will use this to pitch Crist as a liberal and not a true conservative in the Senate race

But certainly great news for the state and the country.

[dickthegrouch]

15. Gay people have always been parents

I know many men who did not come out until after their families were adults. These men sometimes knew they were gay when they got married but were miserable in the marriage. That must have affected their whole ability to parent far more negatively than being in a gay relationship with children could ever have done.

I am extremely glad the courts are finally taking the correct and just decisions.