The National Law Journal reports that Florida Bar's board of governors voted unanimously to file an amicus brief before the 3rd District Court of Appeal supporting a Miami-Dade circuit judge's ruling that declared unconstitutional the state's ban on gay adoptions. Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled in November that the state's ban on gay adoption was unconstitutional.
A feature about this also appears in the Daily Business Review. The decision should be applauded and celebrated, as much for its progressive foundation as for the Florida Bar's willingness to publicly declare, on this issue at least, they will be a force for the future. They are behind the curve on many other issues.
In Florida, no matter what, if the person is gay, they cannot adopt. And the judge has no leeway, under the neanderthal statute which came about as a result of Anita Bryant and her orange juice crusade thirty years ago.
Kudos and complimentst to Bar governor Ervin Gonzalez, a partner with Colson Hicks Eidson in Coral Gables who was a key supporter of filing the amicus brief. At the heart of the adoption issue is the question of whether a gay couple can enjoy the same rights and privileges as a straight couple. Of course they should be able to. Saw today on the ABA Journal that some federal judge in NY just got arrested for slapping his wife. Guess we should take his kids away.
Not every blog or blurb needs to be a thousand words. This is an issue that the right wing legislature should have resolved a decade ago. Every progressive state has. Thousands of kids in Florida need better schooling and parenting but no one needs an education more than the legislators whose moral compass is so broken they will not fix this retarded, offensive, discriminatory statute, which purposefully and callously denies gay citizens equal rights.
Maybe my self interest is involved as a gay man, but I would have made a damn good parent, a lot better than some of those those righteous, chest-pounding, morality-preaching goons in Tallahassee.
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This story relied on a DBR report which has been refuted in part by the President of the Florida Bar, John White, as stated below:
ReplyDeleteAs president of The Florida Bar, I am compelled to clarify some grossly misleading and factually inaccurate information in the Daily Business Review article “Taking a stand” published Feb. 3. The Bar does not advocate nor endorse either supporting or overturning the state law that bans homosexuals from adopting children.
Contrary to the story, The Bar is not “coming out in a big way for gay adoption,” and the board of governors did not vote unanimously to file an amicus brief before the 3rd District Court of Appeal supporting the circuit judge’s ruling that declared unconstitutional the state’s ban on gay adoption.
The sole action of the board of governors in this matter was to allow the family law section to file an amicus brief on this issue. The section is composed entirely of voluntary members and is considered separate from the Bar. This section will be preparing the amicus brief, not The Bar, in such matters of advocacy. Further, no Bar funds will be used with respect to the family law section brief. This filing is tendered solely by the family law section, supported by the separate resources of that voluntary organization and not in the name of The Bar.
-John G. White III
Florida Bar President
Sorry, Jay, but The Bar can't even authorize a voluntary section to do this. The Bar ruled against this five years ago, and Keller v. State Bar of California prohibits it.
ReplyDeleteNice try, Jay, but the Constitution trumps Bar leftwingnut policy. Jack Thompson