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Florida Allows Gay Parents to Adopt

Florida will not appeal a court decision made on September 22 that found the state’s ban on adoptions by gay and lesbian people to be unconstitutional.After the initial ruling, Florida Governor Charlie Crist immediately announced that the state would stop enforcing the law. The Florida Department of Children and Families announced Tuesday that the state agency would not look to overturn the decision by the 3rd District Court of Appeals (DCA). The Department’s communications director Joe Follick told CNN. “…the depth, clarity and unanimity of the DCA opinion – and that of Miami-Dade Judge Cindy Lederman’s original circuit court decision – has made it evident that an appeal would have a less than limited chance of a different outcome.” At the time of the ruling, District Court Judge Gerald Cope wrote in the decision, “It is difficult to see any rational basis in utilizing homosexual persons as foster parents or guardians on a temporary or permanent basis, while imposing a blanket prohibition on those same persons…All other persons are eligible to be considered case-by-case to be adoptive parents,” reported the Associated Press. This decision removes a three-decade old ban that prohibited homosexuals from adopting in Florida.

Sources:

CNN 10/13/10; Feminist Daily Newswire 9/24/10; Associated Press 9/22/10

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