The state of Florida has argued that its ban on gay foster parents is based on the “fact” that gay households are often unstable and unhealthy. The law is a lingering remnant of the reprehensible national campaign by Anita Bryant against gay rights.
Frank Martin Gill simply wants to help raise two young boys, but the state of Florida remains focused on who Gill sleeps with. A 1977 state law bans adoptions by gay parents and is the subject of a legal challenge before the 3rd District Court of Appeal. Previously, Miami-Dade Judge Cindy Lederman ruled for Gill and found the law to be irrational and unconstitutional.
Deputy Solicitor General Timothy Osterhaus insisted before the three-judge panel that gay households have a higher rate of domestic violence, psychiatric disorders, and unstable relationships. Of course, the divorce rate for heterosexual couples in the United States is estimated to be 50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of third marriages. More conservative figures put the rate at 41%, 60%, and 73% — not much an improvement for the model of stable relationships in Florida.
The ban on gay foster parents was an outgrowth of the campaign by
former Miss America contestant Anita Bryant against gay rights. She was the spokeswoman for Florida citrus.
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Good on you Mr. Gill. You’re not only fighting to make the lives of the two boys you wish to adopt better, but the lives of countless others.
if this is an attempt to clean up south beach i think it’s too late.
Here’s a little Anita Bryant blast from the past, and it’s tasty too:
I have been a volunteer guardian ad litem for abused and neglected children in my little corner of the world for over 20 years. My cases have involved drugs and alcohol dependency, physical and emotional abuse (including homicide), sexual abuse and abandonment. All of the cases, without exception, have arisen in heterosexual households. That the ban in Florida and other states on homosexual adoption will not survive is a given. The only question is when this abomination of law and science will be discarded once and for all.
Mike A writes: hat the ban in Florida and other states on homosexual adoption will not survive is a given. The only question is when this abomination of law and science will be discarded once and for all.
it seems that thinking people, people who have eliminated bias toward gays from their lives, are exactly the people that these types think have control over their country. when they spout that they want to take american back it is from us, gays, liberals, atheists, feminists, african american presidents.
they seem to think that nostalgia includes hate. the good old days means jim crow and restricted neighborhoods.
mespo727272, sometime I think I public discourse needs more reason and civility and sometime I think it just needs way more pies. Thanks for the vid.
As a heterosexual parent, I protest! I’m sure that gay parents, on average, are as good as any other parents, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that no parents are better than gay parents.
Henry writes: As a heterosexual parent, I protest! I’m sure that gay parents, on average, are as good as any other parents, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that no parents are better than gay parents.
loving parents who care about their kids welfare are the best parents. who those parents love and share a bed with is beside the point.
mmmmm . . . pie.
So single males can adopt children in Florida if they don’t check the “homosexual” or “bisexual” box? Can children be taken away if “straight” dads rethink their position later on? What about dads who are the biological father of the child in a divorce? I’m sure they stand no chance in Florida.
And why do we allow government to collect data on sexual orientation in the first place?
A government that would deny children parents due to objections over their sexual orientation is indeed evil. I found this article addressed the situation in Florida far more eloquently than I could:
http://www.reason.com/news/show/33127.html
The government should not collect data on sexual orientation, nor deny adoption rights, marriage, military service, immigration, or business licenses to gay individuals.
Make sense to me. NOT.
lottakatz:
“sometime I think I public discourse needs more reason and civility and sometime I think it just needs way more pies. Thanks for the vid.”
************
I ‘m a coconut cream man myself!
Florida continues its fight to overtake Texas as the craziest state in the Union. How long will the people of Florida listen to this crap and do nothing to improve the Civil Rights of all Floridians? It would be nice to see Florida join the 21st Century and allow the best interests of the children to be honored.
They should just ban parents all together… the world would be a better place.
@ Henry:
I think the title is refering to how the state law was made by people who think having “no parents” are better than “gay parents” not that gay parents are the best.
Its funny how phrases like “no __ better than ___” can mean completely opposite things.