Federal judge rules Florida's ban on gay adoptions is valid

August 30, 2001

MIAMI -- A federal judge ruled Thursday that Florida's law banning homosexuals from adopting children is valid, saying the state has a legitimate interest in only allowing married couples to adopt.

The law is considered the nation's toughest ban on gay adoptions, prohibiting adoptions by any gay or lesbian individual or couple. Mississippi and Utah also ban adoptions by same-sex couples.

U.S. Judge James Lawrence King accepted the state's argument that the law was in children's best interests because married heterosexuals provide children with a more stable home.

``Plaintiffs have not asserted that they can demonstrate that homosexual families are equivalently stable, are able to provide proper gender identification or are no more socially stigmatizing than married heterosexual families,'' said King, senior judge for the Miami-based U.S. Southern District of Florida.

Steven Lofton and Douglas Houghton filed the lawsuit after being told they could not adopt children in their care. Lofton, a foster parent, wanted to adopt a 10-year-old boy he has raised since infancy. Houghton is the guardian of a 9-year-old boy.

The men challenged Florida's adoption laws, arguing the laws discriminate against homosexuals.

King, however, said in his ruling that ``given there is no fundamental right to adopt or be adopted, there can be no fundamental right to apply for adoption.'' The judge did discount the state's argument that the law is legitimate because it reflects the state's disapproval of homosexuality.

``The Court cannot accept that moral disapproval of homosexuals or homosexuality serves a legitimate state interest,'' he wrote.

But the state also argued that it's in a child's best interest to be raised in a home with a married mother and father.

``Plaintiffs concede that categorically barring homosexuals from adoption in the best interest of Florida's children is on its face a legitimate purpose,'' King said.