FL Anti-Gay Adoption Law Court Case Approaches One Year Mark
Next week will mark one year since the appeals court took up the question: Is Floridia's adoption law unconstitutional?.
Here's to Martin Gill and his family for having the fortitude to withstand the pressure.
We will never stop fighting for your family and so many others across our state.
Take a moment to take a stand by signing our petition against the ban: http://eqfl.org/adoptequality/
Here's a great summary of the case from the South Florida Gay News:
Decision Forthcoming in Landmark Case
When child protective services took two young children from their home and brought them to Frank Martin Gill and his partner in December 2004, the investigator told the men, experienced foster parents, that the boys deserved a good holiday. The men were planning to move soon but agreed to take them temporarily.
It was clear the boys, ages four years and four months, needed care. The elder boy was wearing a dirty adult-sized t-shirt and sneakers four sizes too small. He did not speak, and his only concern was caring for his infant brother. Both boys had scalp ringworm and the younger had an ear infection, but the medicines brought from their home had been unused. When the older boy began to speak after about a month, the men learned he had never seen a book, could not count, and did not even know letters from numbers.
The brothers stayed and the men did not move. The boys developed friendships at school and in the neighborhood. They bonded with the biological son of Gill’s partner and with the men’s parents and siblings. They began referring to Gill and his partner (who is not identified in court documents) as “Papi” and “Daddy.” In 2007, after the rights of the biological parents were terminated, Gill petitioned to adopt.
The men, however, live here- in Florida -- the one state that bans any gay men or lesbians from adopting. And that has created a dilemma for the courts: either they honor the law or honor their duty to rule in the best interests of the children.
Read the rest here:
