The Sunshine State’s LGBT community is pleased that a House bill has officially removed the gay adoption ban.
March 11, 2015 was a momentous day in Florida. The Republican-lead Florida House of Representatives supported a bill that would officially remove the state’s gay adoption ban language from its statutes.
The law implementing the gay adoption ban was introduced back in 1977. However, the law has not been in effect since 2010; a state appeals court had struck down the law, as it was ruled as being unconstitutional. Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist chose not to appeal that court’s decision at the time, indicating that he believed the ruling to be correct. Nonetheless, the law’s anti-gay language had not been officially removed – until now.
On March 12, 2015, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) put the following message up on their blog regarding the news:
“On Wednesday the Florida House passed HB 7013, a bill focused on adoption and foster care. This bill includes an amendment introduced by Rep. David Richardson, which repeals the discriminatory statutory language that prohibits gay and lesbian people from adopting in Florida. Although this provision was ruled unconstitutional in 2010 by a state appeals court in In re: Gill, the invalid prohibition language has not yet been repealed.
Following the House’s passage, this bill will go to the Senate for consideration. We thank Rep. Richardson for putting forward this amendment and urge the Florida Senate to retain this amendment to repeal discriminatory and invalid provisions prohibiting gay and lesbian people from adopting. The language serves no purpose but to stigmatize gay and lesbian people – it is time for this harmful language to be eliminated. Florida should ensure that all suitable adoptive parents are considered fairly so that a great number of children will have access to loving and supportive homes.”
To read more about the larger adoption bill being considered by the state, visit: Florida House of Representatives