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Event To End Florida Gay Adoption Ban

Joanne — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 03:21:01 +0000

Florida’s Adoption Ban is the only law in the country that categorically prohibits gay men and lesbians from adopting children. This discriminatory law hurts thousands of children who are languishing in Florida’s foster care system by denying them a permanent home.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is proud to announce that Cynthia Nixon, Sex and the City star and LGBT rights advocate, will join us on Saturday, January 9, 2010 to kick off the ACLU’s three-year campaign to end Florida’s ban on adoption by gay and lesbian people.

The event, to be held poolside at South Beach’s luxurious Shore Club, will begin with a VIP reception at 7:15 p.m., followed by a press line, and the main event at 8:30 p.m. Further details on the press line will be available the first week of January. Details and tickets are available at www.aclufl.org/adoption

WHAT:
ACLU Adoption Campaign Kick-Off

WHEN:
Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010

WHERE:
Shore Club | 1901 Collins Ave., Miami Beach

WHO:
Cynthia Nixon
U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Florida Senator Nan Rich
Florida Representative Mary Brandenburg
Howard Simon, ACLU of Florida Executive Director
Robert Rosenwald, ACLU-FL LGBT Advocacy Project Director
Martin Gill, ACLU plaintiff, father of two foster children for five years

The ACLU of Florida’s LGBT Advocacy Project and national ACLU LGBT Project sued the state on behalf of a North Miami man and two brothers who he had been fostering at the state’s request for four years – the only stable home the children have ever known. In a landmark November 2008 decision, a Miami judge ruled that the two boys, now ages five and nine, can remain with the adoptive father, who is gay. The State appealed to the Third District Court of Appeals, where the case has been argued. We are currently awaiting the court’s opinion.

In July 2009, The Tides Foundation’s State Equality Fund awarded a $240,000 grant to the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Florida’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) Advocacy Project to fund a three-year public education and outreach campaign.

In addition, the John C. Graves Charitable Fund of the Community Foundation of Broward has provided a quarter of a million dollars to support the ACLU of Florida’s LGBT rights work since 2005, including the initial grant that seeded the LGBT Advocacy Project. Other significant support has come from The GLBT Community Projects Fund at Dade Community Foundation, and the Scott Opler Foundation. The ACLU’s Campaign to End Florida’s Adoption Ban is designed to support the ACLU’s lawsuit challenging the adoption ban by educating Floridians about the adoption ban and the negative impact it has on Florida’s children and families.

CONTACT:
Brandon Hensler, Director of Communications, (786) 363-2737 or media@aclufl.org

Tags: adopting children, Adoption, Children, Families, foster care, foster care system, Gay Adoption, Legislative

Adoption PSA

Joanne — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:50:51 +0000

Tags: adopting a child, adopting children, Adoption, adoption options, choosing adoption, Gay Adoption, Older Child Adoption, Special Needs Adoption, Transracial Adoption

Gay Couple Allowed To Adopt In Florida

Joanne — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:37:28 +0000

As someone who has lived in Florida for the past six years, I am thrilled with the judge’s decision. There aren’t to many state laws left barring gay people from adopting and the last few done away with. Florida is the only state with an outright ban on gay adoption. Arkansas voters last month approved a measure similar to a law in Utah that bans any unmarried straight or gay couples from adopting or fostering children. Mississippi bans gay couples, but not single gays, from adopting.

From yahoo news

A judge on Tuesday ruled that a strict Florida law that blocks gay people from adopting children is unconstitutional, declaring there was no legal or scientific reason for sexual orientation alone to prohibit anyone from adopting.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman said the 31-year-old law violates equal protection rights for the children and their prospective gay parents, rejecting the state’s arguments that there is “a supposed dark cloud hovering over homes of homosexuals and their children.”

She noted that gay people are allowed to be foster parents in Florida. “There is no rational basis to prohibit gay parents from adopting,” she wrote in a 53-page ruling.

The ruling means that Martin Gill, 47, and his male partner can adopt two brothers, ages 4 and 8, whom he has cared for as foster children since December 2004.

Organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association all support permitting same-sex couples to adopt.

“It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person’s ability to parent,” the judge wrote. “A child in need of love, safety and stability does not first consider the sexual orientation of his parent. The exclusion causes some children to be deprived of a permanent placement with a family that is best suited to their needs.”

Reaction came quickly from advocates of gay, lesbian and transgender parents who have long considered Florida’s law the most draconian in the nation. Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the Boston-based Family Equality Council, said the decision is a “long-overdue recognition of the equal ability of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to raise happy, healthy families.”

“The best interests of children should be decided by parents, families, professionals and judges, not opportunistic politicians and interest groups,” Chrisler said.

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Tags: adopting children, Adoption, foster parents, fostering children, Gay Adoption, Legislative

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Tags: Gay Adoption

Adoption Quotes

Joanne — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:57:00 +0000

Here are some more great adoption quotes. Several of them would make a nice addition to your child’s adoption lifebook.

If you’re looking to purchase lifebook supplies,
scroll past the quotes to check out some of our favorites!

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life.
-Richard Bach

If a child is born and raised in a home that is loving and nurturing, where there is complete truth about who we are, you can’t give a child any greater place from which to fly.
-Amanda Bearse

Time and experience have taught me a priceless lesson: Any child you take for your own becomes your own if you give of yourself to that child. I have born two children and had seven others by adoption, and they are all my children, equally beloved and precious.
-Dale Evans

We look at adoption as a very sacred exchange. It was not done lightly on either side. I would dedicate my life to this child.
-Jamie Lee Curtis

I realized at the start that whether a child is biological or adopted, one does not know all the ingredients in the package. That is what growth is all about. A child is the slowest flower in the world, opening petal by petal, revealing the developing personality within.
-Robert Klose

Somehow destiny comes into play. These children end up with you and you end up with them. It’s something quite magical.
-Nicole Kidman

Adoptive Mom?
I am Mom.
I need no other label or prefix.
-Joanne Greco

It has been said that adoption is more like a marriage than a birth: two (or more) individuals, each with their own unique mix of needs, patterns, and genetic history, coming together with love, hope, and commitment for a joint future. You become a family not because you share the same genes, but because you share love for each other.
-Joan McNamara

By choice, we have become a family, first in our hearts, and finally in breath and being. Great expectations are good; great experiences are better.

-Richard Fischer

People ask me. “What about gay adoptions? Interracial? Single Parent?” I say. “Hey fine, as long as it works for the child and the family is responsible.” My big stand is this: Every child deserves a home and love. Period.
-Dave Thomas

Looking for more adoption quotes?

Adoption Sticker Medley

Use this Adoption sticker medley on page layouts, creative frames, handmade cards, gift tags and more!

Price: $1.99

My Family, My Journey: A Baby Book for Adoptive Families

This lovely keepsake album contains sections to record all the joyful milestones and cherished family moments that mark a new baby’s life, pages to chart the child’s unique journey, as well as over 60 stickers you can use to customize the family tree pages.

Price: $5.08

My Adoption Celebration Scrapbook

My Adoption Celebration Scrapbook is packed with pages that are ideal for recording special times spent with loved ones.

Price: $15.56

Adoption Scrapbook Baby Album

This 20-page scrapbook album comes with 15 8×8 transparency overlays along with a coupon for 5 free overlays at the publisher’s web site.

Price: $55.00

Adoption Is Love Cardstock Stickers

A wonderful sheet of heavyweight cardstock stickers depicting the joy of adoption. Acid and lignin-free, and archival safe.

Price: $1.32

Framework Adoption Accents

These are colorful, lightweight chipboard embellishments designed to complement photos and add dimension to scrapbook pages, homemade greeting cards, and other craft projects.

Price: $1.89

Tags: adoption lifebook, adoption message, adoption quotes, adoptive families, family tree, Gay Adoption, single parent

Gay Couple Who Sued Adoption.com, Settle

Joanne — Thu, 24 May 2007 13:11:00 +0000

As a follow-up to the store about the gay couple who sued adoption.com, they have settled their lawsuit.

Under the terms of a settlement, ParentProfiles.com, a sister company to Adoption.com, cannot post profiles of California residents “unless the service is made equally available to all California residents qualified to adopt in California.” That means the defendants have a choice: to either “treat everyone in California equally or don’t benefit from the state’s economy. There is no monetary payout as part of the settlement, as the Butlers were never after money.” said Neel Chatterjee, an attorney for Michael & Rich Butler.

The Butlers adopted a baby girl in 2004 through a California adoption agency. Isn’t she just adorable?

Tags: Gay Adoption

Gay Couple Suing Adoption.com

Joanne — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:38:00 +0000

Michael and Richard Butler are suing Adoption.com and its owners, Nathan and Dale Gwilliam, after their application to join the site was rejected back in 2003. Last week a federal judge allowed their discrimination lawsuit to go to trial.

The Butlers have since adopted a daughter.

Judge Hamilton’s decision was an important victory for gay rights because Adoption.com’s policies affect same-sex couples across the country, said Minter, who is legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

“They are the biggest Internet company based on that service. They have a near monopoly,” he said. “They do more business with people in California than any other state. It’s outrageous they do so much business in California with complete disregard for California law.”

Click here for full story

Good for the Butlers. It’s no secret that I not a fan of adoption.com. This will be an interesting case to watch.

Related Tags: adoption, adopting, adopt

Tags: Gay Adoption

More Gays And Lesbians Becoming Parents

Joanne — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 00:04:00 +0000

It’s nice to see such a positive article in the midst of such discrimination. I honestly don’t understand what their issue is with gay people adopting. Families come in all shapes and sizes and who’s to say that one is better than another.

Gaywired.com
According to a study released by the Williams Institute and the Urban Institute, lesbian, gay and bisexual people are becoming parents at a faster rate. Sixty-five thousand children were adopted by gay and lesbian people, which is around 4 percent of all American adopted children. Also, 10,300 kids have been fostered by gay and lesbian individuals. (Previously, the US census had found that more than one out of three lesbians had given birth, while one out of six gay men had become a parent.) Gary J. Gates, a Senior Research Fellow at the Williams Institute, said that these numbers are only going to get larger as the years progress, as lesbian, gay and bisexual families are seen more in our culture.

Gates said in the release that research shows LGB parents are as capable as any other parents, and “in fact, studies show that these parents tend to have a higher percentage of qualities that are highly desirable. On average, LGB adoptive parents and same-sex couples raising foster children are older and more educated than other foster parents. In addition, many LGB adoptive parents have access to more economic resources than other adoptive parents.”

However, many states are not receiving this message. Florida, Mississippi, and Utah all have laws saying gays and lesbians cannot adopt. Twelve states allow same-sex fostering and adopting (California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington, DC), but in other states, the laws are murkier, and lesbians and gays may be kept from adopting or fostering a child. In addition, in some of the states where there is no outright ban on gays adopting and fostering, states are thinking about creating laws that would prevent it. If those states banned adopting and fostering, it would affect 9,300 to 14,000 children. Also, studies have proven that the more moves a child makes through the adoption or foster care system, the higher the chance of a bad outcome, or outcomes for that child, involving their schoolwork, mental health, and general behavior.

Related Tags: adopt, adopting, adoption, adopted

Tags: Gay Adoption, Parenting Tips, parents of adopted children

Lesbian Seeks To Overturn Adoption

Joanne — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 03:40:00 +0000

Like a lot of lesbian couples, Sara Wheeler and her partner, Missy, decided to start a family together and share the Wheeler as their last name. Sara gave birth to a son through artificial insemination and two years later, they both decided that Missy should adopt the child and legally become his second parent.

Their relationship ended and as is in a lot of break ups where a child is involved, Missy sought joint custody through the courts.

Sounds okay so far. But here’s where it gets weird.

Sara is now asking the court to overturn the adoption because she says the state should never have allowed it in the first place because Missy is gay.

Is it me? It sounds like she looking for an easy way to get Missy out of their sons life and she’s using this as an excuse.

“I’m not doing anything else a mother wouldn’t do to fight for her son,” she said. “Some people may think it’s the unthinkable, but if they were put in my shoes, they’d do the same thing.”

I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Missy is just as much his mother, gay or straight, adopted or biological, as Sara is.

Before I’m anything — gay or lesbian — I’m a mother,” she says. “And the most important thing is to make sure my son has a relationship with his biological mother.”

Go ahead and have a relationship with your son. Nobody is stopping you. It seems that all Missy wants also. To have a relationship with her son.

Here’s the article

Related Tags: adoption, adopt, adopting

Tags: Gay Adoption