For the past 33 years, the state of Florida banned gays and lesbians from adopting. In September of 2010, the ACLU of Florida victoriously struck down this ban. The ACLU of Florida has fought for the rights of children to have a "forever home," and this victory continues to prove their commitment to the fight for LGBT equality and rightfully earns them the 2011 Champions of Equality Award., stated CJ Ortuno, Executive Director of SAVE Dade.As Glenn Garvin noted in his review of last night's excellent American Experience, dealing with the heroic efforts by visionary, forward-thinking activists to strike down Jim Crow in the South:
The ACLU of Florida’s victory, however, was not its alone. Greenberg Traurig LLP, a for-profit law firm, stepped up to defend , pro bono, the rights of the two children who have now been legally adopted by Martin Gill.
Greenberg Traurig has publicly stated that this case was the “most meaningful” for its team. Its willingness to go above and beyond to protect the interests of these children earns it the 2011 Champions of Equality Award.
The immediate and profound reaction to each — even among viewers who lived through the 1960s: “That was America? It’s a testament to how stunningly and totally the civil-rights movement eventually triumphed that these images seem so utterly alien, as if they were drawn from a world long ago and far away. Could we really have lived in a country in which water fountains were marked white and colored? Where a public park could have a sign out front reading, whites only? Where a young white woman could smile sunnily into a TV camera and explain that three kids shot to death for registering black voters were asking for it? Where federal troops could be seen lining the streets of a state capital, grimly mounting bayonets onto their rifles in preparation for the day’s work?It's always good to be on the right side of history, at least once in your life, on at least one issue of consequence.
It's clear that the District Court of Appeal decision is of statewide application, and it will be binding on all trial courts across the state,'' Sheldon said.Add to that recent federal district court rulings on DADT, DOMA, and Prop 8 and it's evident there's something happening, and you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?
As of last week, the state had exhausted the time to challenge the Gill adoption, and so, regardless of the law's status, the two children will remain Gill's adoptive children, Sheldon said.
Sheldon said he had discussed the case with Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum as early as Tuesday morning, and informed the state's top law enforcer of his decision. He said he does not know whether McCollum will choose to exercise his authority to appeal to the Florida Supreme Court in defense of the state statute.
A state appeals court in Florida toppled a monument to bigotry last week, declaring unconstitutional a 33-year-old state law that prohibited gay people from adopting children. The animus behind the ban is unmistakable. Its sponsor in the Florida State Senate, Curtis Peterson, declared in 1977 that its purpose was to send a message to the gay community that “we’re really tired of you” and “we wish you’d go back into the closet.”See, nothing discriminatory there!
The state had nothing credible to offer to justify the adoption ban. It presented only two expert witnesses, noted Judge Gerald Cope Jr., who wrote the main opinion. One witness undercut the state’s case by saying adoption decisions should be made on a case-by-case basis. Opposing experts quickly discredited the state’s second witness, Dr. George Rekers, a Baptist minister and clinical psychologist (subsequently caught up in a sex scandal) whose pseudo-scientific research was laughable.Listen, this is South Florida.
"Dr. Rekers' testimony was far from a neutral and unbiased recitation of the relevant scientific evidence. Dr. Rekers' beliefs are motivated by his strong ideological and theological convictions that are not consistent with the science. Based on his testimony and demeanor at trial, the court can not consider his testimony to be credible nor worthy of forming the basis of public policy.''
The Florida Attorney General's Office has appealed Lederman's ruling, and a decision is expected anytime.
"Further, based on his preposterous mustache and absurd comb-over, this man is either a buffoon or a closeted self-hating homosexual, or possibly both."Wait a second, who is our dummkopf attorney general again?
Hmm, so you're suggesting those who oppose gay adoption are like those who opposed interracial marriage?For almost 200 years of our history in many states, marriage was not simply restricted to a man and a woman, but had to be racially pure. If you were white, your spouse had to be white; if you were ``colored,'' your spouse had to be ``colored.'' It became complicated, as who is ``white'' and who is ``colored'' was not so clear, given the number of people whose parents were not racially ``pure.''
Seemingly intelligent people confidently justified these prohibitions, claiming (1) the regulation of marriage is exclusively within the power of the states, and thus immune from attack under the U.S. Constitution, (2) the framers, those white men of the 18th century, several of them slaveholders, never intended for there to be interracial marriage, and (3) it was psychologically and sociologically inappropriate.
Lawyers for Virginia, asking the Supreme Court in 1967 to uphold its prohibition against interracial marriage, pointed to ``scientific opinions'' supporting the ``desirability of preventing such alliances, from the physical, biological, genetic, anthropological, cultural, psychological and sociological point of view.'' They left out religious, but the Virginia trial judge did not: ``Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents.'' And: ``The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.''
The children, it was feared, would be harmed by all these problems, and by reason of being ``mixed race'' children. How could we inflict such a fate on our children? Certainly they could never succeed in life, such as by becoming president.
The Supreme Court made short work of Virginia's statutes.
Now we debate not interracial marriage, but gay marriage and gay adoption. And we hear the same ``reasons'' we heard before.
I beseech you: Please, no more letters regarding gay adoption.Let me go Claudos one further: I suggest we condense the entirety of the Florida Bar News to a single bi-weekly "tweet."
I am confident other Bar members join me in saying we are sick and tired of the respective sides’ righteous indignation, moral outrage, and dueling biblical references.
Alternatively, please set a future date that such letters will no longer be published. After all, both final argument at trial and appellate oral argument are limited in time and scope.
Furthermore, does either side really believe it can convince the other of the other’s error of its ways?
Claudos G. Spears
Young Harris, GA
Is not it Biblically accepted that (wo)man was created in the image of G-d? If G-d created His people with different sexual orientations, then who is Mr. Metcalfe and his ilk to question G-d’s wisdom? If his answer is that the literal translation of the Bible says it’s so, then how are all of the bizarre and inhumane contradictions of the Bible explained? They cannot.And not just the law either.
Who in their right minds would accept and be bound as part of the civil law the literal Biblical interpretations? (I do not consider members of the Taliban as being in their right minds!)
In sum and in every respect, David has made both his late mom and me very proud parents.
And, I repeat, any law that would prohibit the likes of my son from adopting a child is an “ass.”
In creation and throughout at least a 5,000-year history, God has kept children and homosexual adults separated. The practice of homosexuality is a biblical “abomination,” as stated in Leviticus 18:22, where God is directly quoted in the Torah, which is also the Old Testament. Moreover, Leviticus 18 closes at verses 29 and 30 stating:God was directly quoted?
“For whoever shall do any of these abominations, the persons that do them shall be cut off from among their people. So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs which were practiced before you, and never to defile yourselves by them: I am the Lord your God.”
Thus, it is clear that God, the giver of law, hates the practice of homosexuality and His law and His will are to keep children and those practicing homosexuality apart.
Hi kids!Ultimately, nothing is as repulsive and emasculating to adolescent boys as being recruited for gay sex.He also had this to say:
Holding vulnerable foster children like human shields to support homosexual adult social-engineering agendas is reprehensible. The Florida Bar’s Family Law Section and its amicus curiae appellate filings seek to endanger fatherless children for its own political ends and nothing more.So things got a little heated but George stepped into our little forum and defended himself and everybody pretty much forgot about the whole thing.
[]I would like to say “kudos” to George Metcalfe, the author of the “advertisement.” I applaud your courage, integrity, and insight into human behavior for pointing out that heterosexual couples have indeed cornered the market on morality, sexuality, and childrearing. Everyone knows that heterosexuals are never lousy parents, never descend into depression or suicide, don’t molest children, don’t abuse their families, are never promiscuous, and don’t catch STDs or die from AIDS; everyone knows AIDS is only a gay disease.Nice attempt Meredith, but try harder.
I also applaud your use of personal anecdotes to condemn an entire group of people. Lastly, it should be noted for the record that the current wards of the state are the exclusive products of the heterosexual relationships that the author is advocating for. So much for family values.
I am eagerly awaiting the next issue of The Florida Bar News. I never realized that as long as you pasted the word “advertisement” over an op-ed piece, that anything can be published, no matter how bizarre. I am expecting a series of thoughtful and stimulating “advertisements” in upcoming issues such as Heinrich Himmler: The Comic Genius of the Third Reich; The Lighter Side of the KKK; and Charlie Manson: The Misunderstood Musician.
Those wacky Florida liberal judges, they must be sniffing glue, or sharpies, taking into consideration the parental bond formed with adoptive children.Florida must recognize out-of-state adoptions by gay couples even though its laws ban such adoptions, a state appeals court in Lakeland has ruled.
Sarasota Circuit Judge Donna Berlin erred when she wouldn’t recognize a former lesbian couple’s adoptions when the women lived in Washington state, the 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled unanimously Wednesday.
Florida is the only state that prohibits all gays from adopting. But the judges said the U.S. Constitution requires the state to give “full faith and credit” to the actions of other states, and there is no public policy exception to that requirement.
While living as a couple in Seattle, Kimberly Ryan and Lara Embry each gave birth to a child. Each then adopted the other’s child as the second parent. They moved to Sarasota and later agreed to share custody when they split up.
Ryan became engaged to a man and cut off contact between her biological child and Embry, saying that under her new Christian beliefs she didn’t think the relationship was good for the child. Embry sued for custody.
The lower court sided with Ryan, ruling the Washington adoption had no legal standing because Florida bans gay adoption and marriage.
The decision written by Judge James Whatley said Embry “must be given the same rights as any other adoptive parent in Florida.” Judge Craig Villanti concurred.
Judge Carolyn Fulmer said in a specially concurring opinion that the same-sex relationship was irrelevant.
MR. WRIGHT: Once you had reason to suspect a student is possessing any contraband that poses a health and safety risk, then searching any place where that contraband may reasonably be found is constitutional, and --
JUSTICE SCALIA: Any contraband, like the black marker pencil that -- that astounded me. That was contraband in that school, wasn't it, a black marker pencil?MR. WRIGHT: Well, for sniffing.
JUSTICE SCALIA: Oh, is that what they do?
MR. WRIGHT: It's a permanent marker.
JUSTICE SCALIA: They sniff them?
MR. WRIGHT: Well, that's the -- I mean, I'm a school lawyer. That's what kids do, Your Honor, unfortunately, Your Honor.
JUSTICE SCALIA: Really?
So sharpie-sniffers, see you all at the Love-In at Greynolds Park on Sunday, where you libertine tie-dyed hedonists can drive guys like George to step it up a notch and this time write a really controversial letter to the Florida Bar Journal.
The Iowa Supreme Court announced its ruling in a landmark same-sex marriage case Friday morning. Read Court's Ruling On Same-Sex Marriage (pdf)Doesn't anyone know the history of civil rights movements in America?The justices ruled unanimously in favor of six same-sex couples who sought to get marriage licenses, but were denied.
The 69 page ruling means same-sex couples in Iowa can now get married under state law. The ruling said that the Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution.
The decision strikes the language from Iowa Code section 595.2 limiting civil marriage to a man and a woman. It further directs that the remaining statutory language be interpreted and applied in a manner allowing gay and lesbian people full access to the institution of civil marriage.
Same-sex couples will be allowed to get married under Iowa law in 21 days.
Aww, isn't that just precious??In between learning their ABC's and 123's, the 4-year-olds in Iris Dasilvia's Tamarac preschool recently got a lesson in D-R-U-Gs.
One preschooler apparently pulled a small plastic bag out of his book bag last Friday, and inside was his brother's marijuana stash.
''That's my brother's weed,'' the teacher allegedly overheard the 4-year-old boy say, according to authorities.
Oy -- not a good sign.Then, in November, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman also declared the law unconstitutional in a case in which she approved the adoption of two half-brothers, then ages 4 and 8. The boys, identified only as John and James Doe, had been living with foster father Frank Gill since December 2004.
DCF, which had custody of the children Gill adopted, has appealed Lederman's order to the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami. Gill's attorneys tried to move the case directly to the Florida Supreme Court, but the Miami appeals court judges declined to relinquish jurisdiction.
Thank you Judge.Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman Tuesday declared Florida's 50-year-old ban on gay adoptions unconstitutional -- a ruling state lawyers immediately said they would challenge.
The ruling sets the stage for Frank Gill, a gay man from North Miami, to adopt two foster children he has raised since 2004.
In a 53-page ruling, Judge Lederman said, ``It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent.''
Two lawyers from the Florida Attorney General's Office said they would file an appeal Tuesday.
''We respect the court's decision,'' said Assistant Attorney General Valerie Martin. ``Based upon the wishes of our client, the Department of Children & Families, we will file an appeal.''
Gill, who is raising the half-brothers, ages 4 and 8, said he was ''elated'' by the ruling and ``I cried tears of joy for the first time in my life.''
