Gay & Lesbian Adoption Ban Stands

An appeal to the Supreme Court from the State of Florida to overturn the 1977 adoption ban by gays and lesbians was turned down today. The State of Florida is the only state in the union that has a gay and lesbian adoption ban on the books. The opportunity to overturn this law of bigotry is over for now.

There are some interesting forces at work that led to upholding the Florida law. The key judge that decided the case in the eleventh circuit was Judge William H. Pryor, Jr., a judge selected by President Bush who made it onto the bench without consent of Congress while they were not in session. Prior to Congress not being in session, the Democrats blocked his placement on the bench because of his ultra-conservative views.

If this case would have made it onto the Supreme Court docket, 2003's ruling by the Court on Lawrence v. Texas that granted due process to homosexuals could have been expanded upon. Unfortunately, by the time another case out of Florida makes it up to the Supreme Court regarding this law, the makeup of the Court could be drastically different and much more conservative with one or two Bush appointees on the bench.

If we want to alter the future makeup of those on the federal bench, call your Senators and tell them what you think of conservative judges and to stand up to President Bush on every one of them. Otherwise, we will have a host of conservative judges on the federal level that will make overturning other anti-gay legislation much more difficult in the future.

And you can Quote me on that. The Quotable Queer
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