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Let Gays Adopt

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 8, 2008

Florida has barred homosexuals from adopting children since 1977, yet gays and lesbians are allowed to be foster parents and raise wards of the state for years at a time.

But it looks like the courts may be about to put a stop to this strange paradox. Last week a circuit judge in Miami-Dade County ruled that a gay man should be allowed to adopt the two children he is raising.

Judge Cindy Lederman follows three other trial judges who have ruled the same way. She was notably direct: "There is no rational basis to preclude homosexuals from adopting."

It's fair to say that most people would prefer to see children raised in a mother-father household.

But there are plenty of heterosexual families in which the parents are not taking care of their kids. More abuse occurs in heterosexual households because of the sheer number of them.

And many people are raising their children alone - widowed, divorced, abandoned - and doing a good job of it without the benefit of the father-mother dynamic.

It's true Florida would not have as much control following an adoption. The process is difficult precisely because wards of the state must be protected.

But isn't a primary goal of foster care to find a safe and loving home for a child and relieve the state of the responsibility of caring for her?

Whether gays should adopt should be a legislative decision. But lawmakers have not paid attention to this change in public sentiment.

It's true that Floridians opposed gay marriage at the polls last month when they voted on Amendment 2, but they recognize the hypocrisy of allowing homosexuals to raise children as foster parents but bar them from adoption.

Most gay foster parents have shown they are good caretakers. Having proven they are responsible, they should be able to adopt children and provide them permanent, loving homes.

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