Yesterday, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum declined to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court a lower court’s invalidation of Florida’s ban on queer parents from adopting children.
You might remember Mr. McCollum from the “Rentboy” scandal. Seems McCollum had the state of Florida pay psychologist and professional homophobe George Rekers over $100K to testify about the supposed moral and psychological defects of queers in the litigation over “gay adoption.” Ironically, Rekers was later outed for hiring a fetching male escort from “Rentboy.com” to “help with his luggage” whilst on a European vacation. A vacation, I might add, where he declined to take his wife.
Uh-huh…..
Anyway, this little escapade probably cost McCollum the GOP nomination for Gov. Could NOT have happened to a nicer guy.
I believe, Florida was the last state to ban queer adoption. What this may mean for LGBT public school educators is that another brick in the wall of state-sanctioned homophobia is finally, finally gone. If all 50 states have determined that queers are “safe” enough to parent their adopted children, then public school teaching and administration should present no problem what-so-ever.
HT: Joe.My.God.
Amen for this! But more work to be done! FL may be the last to have banned gay adoption, but does it still prohibit second parent adoption? Second parent adoption remains unclear in too many states and is clearly prohibited in others (Arkansas, Nebraska, Utah). Until both partners in a gay couple can legally adopt each others’ children, the legal rights of gay parents and their children remain at risk.
By: Maggie on October 27, 2010
at 10:39 pm
Yes, I believe that’s the case in Florida as well. “Less oppressive” is probably the standard of progress for Florida.
*SIGH*! It’s going to be a millimeter by millimeter fight to ensure equal rights for all.
By: Catherine Lugg on October 27, 2010
at 10:51 pm