Lawmaker files bill to end ban on adoptions by gays

A day after Democrats lawmakers tried to bring attention to the state ban on gay and lesbian adoption, a representative from West Palm Beach announced she has filed a bill that would lift the ban.

Democratic Rep. Mary Brandenburg made the announcement Wednesday backed by supporting legislators and members of Equality Florida, a group that advocates on behalf of gay, lesbian and transgender residents. Brandenburg called the adoption ban a triumph of bigotry over the needs of 2,000 children now awaiting adoption in foster homes.

"Bigotry was the source of this bill," Brandenburg said, "and one of my fears is that bigotry is one of the reasons this is bill is not being heard in the Legislature this year."

Brandenburg said this is the eighth year she has filed a bill to lift the ban. So far, the House Republican leadership has refused to let the bills be heard in committee or on the House floor.

On Tuesday, frustrated Democrats were able to air their opposition to the ban by filing an amendment to Republican bill dealing with the gun rights of prospective adoptive parents. Republicans did not join in the discussion and the amendment was withdrawn. Democrats said it was the first time in 33 years that the ban on gay and lesbian adoption had been discussed on the floor of the Senate.

Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, said she believes many moderate Republicans would vote to repeal the ban if they could vote anonymously.

"But politically, the calculation is, 'Will we alienate the far-right voters in the conservative primaries?'" Smith said. "And that's what's driving this, not's what's in the best interest of children."

One Republican representative, Faye Culp of Tampa, stood behind Brandenburg in opposition to the ban. Culp said that when she was a child, she and her sister were shuffled between their alcoholic father and an aunt and uncle after her mother died.

"I always wanted to be adopted," Culp said. "We never had a feeling of permanence."

Culp said she is doubly committed to lifting the ban because she has a gay son.

"If he ever wanted to adopt, he would be a wonderful parent," she said.

Brandenburg will leave office this year because of term limits, but said her husband is campaigning for her seat and promises to continue trying to repeal the ban if elected.