Judge allows gay man to adopt
A Miami trial judge’s ruling allowing a gay man to adopt two foster children appears headed for the Florida Supreme Court and a test that could overturn the last complete ban of gay adoption in the nation.
"There is no rational basis to preclude homosexuals from adopting," Judge Cindy S. Lederman said Tuesday in a Miami-Dade County juvenile courtroom, declaring Florida’s 31-year-old ban on gay adoption illegal.
Upon hearing the judge’s words, Frank Martin Gill patted his eyes with a folded tissue, grateful for the opportunity to permanently parent the children he and his partner have raised since just before Christmas 2004.
"Today I’ve cried my first tears of joy in my life," said Gill, 47, a flight attendant who lives in North Miami. "We are elated ... I wasn’t here to make history. I was here to do the best thing for a 4- and an 8-year-old."
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Florida is the only state that expressly bans all gays and lesbians from adopting. They are allowed, however, to be foster parents.
A Key West, Fla., judge in September also found the law unconstitutional. That ruling was not appealed, however, so it could not serve as a springboard to overturning the state law.
