The two children at the heart of the case that legalized adoption for gay men and lesbians in Florida have now been legally adopted by Martin Gill. The family had an adoption ceremony yesterday in the offices of Judge Cindy Lederman, the Miami-Dade Circuit Court judge who ruled that the adoption ban was unconstitutional and said […]
Less than a week after news broke that the State Department would be changing U.S. passport applications and Consular Record of Birth Abroad (CRBA) forms to say “Parent” and “Parent” rather than the gender-specific “Mother” and “Father,” the department has modified its decision. The Associated Press (AP) reported yesterday that the forms would instead say “Mother
Go librarians. The American Library Association (ALA) this week announced it will add an annual award for “English-language works for children and teens of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered experience.”
Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced today that he would not appeal a ruling that last month struck down the state’s ban on adoption by gay men and lesbians. I’ll have more details in another piece; for the moment I’ll refer you back to the news piece I did for Keen News Service a couple
A bit of sunshine from the Sunshine State today. The Florida Third District Court of Appeals this morning upheld a lower court ruling that said the state’s ban on adoption by gay men and lesbians is unconstitutional, and that a gay man, Frank Martin Gill, can adopt the two boys he and his partner have
Yes, that’s right. Just days after lesbian moms Vanessa Alenier and Melanie Leon spoke before the Florida Third District Court of Appeal to try and preserve Alenier’s adoption of her young nephew, comes news that a Broward County judged has approved Robert Lamarche’s adoption of a teenaged boy Lamarche—who is gay—has fostered for about two years.
Add another court victory to the recent Prop 8 and DOMA wins. The Eighth District Court of Appeals in Ohio last week rejected an attempt to use the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage to prevent a lesbian mother from sharing custody of her children with her former partner. Lambda Legal, which represents Rita Goodman
(A new report came out yesterday that reevaluated the reasons California’s Prop 8 passed in November 2008. Among the findings (my emphasis): The most effective decision made by either campaign—the one with the biggest impact on the outcome—was Yes on 8’s decision to appeal to appeal to anti-gay prejudice by dishonestly alleging danger to kids.
In two separate cases today, a federal judge in Massachusetts ruled that part of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional. In less than an hour, I’m sure, you won’t be able to swing a virtual cat in the LGBT blogosphere without hitting an article about this. To get you started, here’s Lisa Keen’s
A circuit judge today struck down Arkansas’ ban against unmarried couples adopting or foster-parenting children. The Arkansas law was approved by voters in November 2008, during the same election that in California saw the imposition of Prop 8, which halted the previous legalization of marriage for same-sex couples. The news must be particularly galling to
