Wednesday, September 22, 2010

One step closer to banning the Florida gay adoption ban

As you might have guessed based on my history of objecting to don't ask, don't tell, yesterday's shenanigans in the Senate disappointed and angered me.  I think both sides have to accept some blame for refusing to allow repeal of DADT to come up to a vote.  The police is discrimination, pure and simple, on par with racial segregation.  There is no excuse for continuing to allow this to be the law of the land.  So, yes, I was pretty disheartened yesterday.  (Oh, and I "lost" a Facebook friend over my statement that anyone who opposes immediate repeal of the policy should be ashamed.  Seems like a friend I didn't really need.)

I have reached a point of utter disgust with all policies that treat gays and lesbians differently.  More importantly, I'm disgusted by the prevalent notion that it's ok to have policies that treat gays and lesbians differently.  There is just no rational basis for thinking that being gay is weird or wrong or immoral.  There is no rational basis for thinking that "they" shouldn't get to live by the same rules as "us".  There is no rational basis for thinking there's a "them" and an "us".

But today brings good news.  Today, a Florida appellate court found that state's atrocious ban on gay adoptions to be unconstitutional.  I would like to offer a Godless Huzzah to Frank Martin Gill, his longtime partner, and the two lucky boys who (I hope) don't remember any other family and who have flourished since being in Gill's custody.  I'm sure they didn't need appellate court judges to tell them they're a family, but what a relief it must be to have those judges affirm they're a family unit that will be legally recognized as such.

There seems to be a thought in Florida that the state Supreme Court ultimately needs to rule on this to make it official, but from this article, it appears that no relevant state officials really want the ban to survive.  As they shouldn't because there is no reason whatsoever to prohibit gays and lesbians from adopting.

UPDATE: Gov. Crist has just announced that the state will stop enforcing the ban.

2 comments:

Moxie said...

Huzzah!

Nance said...

Hear hear! I am continually outraged by the antiquated policies that exist in this country regarding the demotion of our citizens to second-class status due to their sexual orientation. It's absolutely unconscionable. There is NO GOOD REASON. PERIOD.

 
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