Gay adoption ban in Florida heats up again

The state of Florida is filing an appeal against a ruling that struck down its ban on gay adoption. And helping it will be the religious right group, the Liberty Counsel.

Last year, Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman said that the state's ban on gay adoption was unconstitutional. She made that ruling in the case of Martin Gill and his partner of 10 years. Four years ago, they took in two brothers as foster children. One was four and other was four months old. The childen had come from an abused environment. Since coming to the Gill home, the two brothers have thrived tremendously. The Gills now want to adopt the boys.

Judge Lederman ruled that the state didn't make a compelling argument in keeping the Gills from adopting these boys.

Of course the state of Florida wasn't exactly helped by the "experts" it choose to defend its ban. George Rekers and Bob Schumm said that the state had a compelling reason to keep gays from adopting.

Rekers, in particular, said a few interesting comments. According the Miami Herald:

Gay men and lesbians have two to four times the likelihood of suffering from major depression, anxiety or substance abuse, based on several national studies, Rekers testified. Gay men, he said, are four times more likely than straight men to attempt suicide.

Depressed people, Rekers said, ''are less consistent in their parenting, less positive [and] have higher rates of neglecting child needs.'' Gay people, he added, ``would have less capability of providing the kind of nurturing and secure emotional environment for children.''

. . . Rekers said he would, in fact, favor banning anyone from adopting who had more than 18 ''sex partners'' during a lifetime. ''I think that would be a very good social policy,'' he said in a deposition.He said he would also consider banning Native Americans from adopting because research shows that they are also at much higher risk of mental illness and substance abuse. ''They would tend to hang around each other,'' Rekers testified. ``So the children would be around a lot of other Native Americans who are . . . doing the same sorts of things.''

Needless to say, Judge Lederman didn't exactly find his testimony to be accurate:

Court documents said:

Dr. Rekers’ testimony was far from a neutral and unbiased recitation of the relevant scientific evidence. Dr. Rekers’ beliefs are motivated by his strong ideological and theological convictions that are not consistent with the science. Based on his testimony and demeanor at trial, the court can not consider his testimony to be credible nor worthy of forming the basis of public policy.

Interestingly enough, these facts seem to have eluded Liberty Counsel head Matt Staver in his statement to One News Now:

Matt Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University Law School, notes the law has been challenged many times with the court siding with the law, but he tells OneNewsNow that an activist judge has revived it.

"Last year, Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman actually wrote that the law violates the constitution of the state of Florida," he points out.

So that's it! - Florida didn't lose the case because its witnesses were awful. It was because Lederman is an "activist judge."

Staver runs the gambit of religious right talking points here:

Staver contends the Florida law soundly demonstrates the need for children to be permanently adopted into homes with stable families, including a mother and father.

What a lie! The case demonstrates that the state of Florida needs to get rid of an antiquated ban created at a time in which folks thought that gays were trying to recruit children.

Granted, some idiots still believe the recruitment bull now but it's a notion that is dying a slow, painful, and much deserved death.

And the Florida ban on gay adoption needs to die also.