Federal Judge Strikes Down Oklahoma Law that Could Have Denied Children Their Parents

This news is so good and so relevant to LGBT families that I’m not saving it for my usual Friday political update:

A federal judge struck down Oklahoma’s Adoption Invalidation Law prohibiting Oklahoma from recognizing adoptions by same-sex couples from other states and countries. This was perhaps the most anti-LGBT-family law in the country, and could have led to parents suddenly losing their legal status as parents if they moved to or visited the state.

The tireless lawyers at Lambda Legal argued the case on behalf of several plaintiffs. The court upheld Lambda’s claims that the law violated the U. S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process, and its Full Faith and Credit Clause.

This raises the question of whether these claims, which have been used unsuccessfully so far to get other states to recognize same-sex marriages from Massachusetts, will have any better luck in the future. I’m not a lawyer, so I won’t venture an answer. Regardless, the ruling is very good news for LGBT families living in or traveling through Oklahoma.