Mary Cheney‘s very public pregnancy has made the issue of parenting by same-sex couples very topical. Here in Florida it only reminds us that we are coming up on the thirty year anniversary of the gay adoption ban.
You have to have been around for a while to remember Anita Bryant’s crusade against homosexuality in Miami back in the late 70’s. One of the results of that effort was that the state legislature passed a law banning gay adoptions in Florida.
But, I want to bring attention to the heroic long term efforts by Equality Florida to address this issue.
Equality Florida is the premier group fighting for LGBT equality in Florida. This is how they describe themselves:
Equality Florida is a grassroots, statewide human rights organization working on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to secure equality and fairness, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Our top priorities are: ending Florida’s ban on gay and lesbian adoption, making schools safe for LGBT students, ending workplace discrimination, and gaining legal recognition for our families through domestic partnerships and equal access to legal protections only marriage can provide.
We have offices in St. Petersburg and Miami and provide a full-time lobbyist in Tallahassee during the legislative session.
That last phrase means they’re serious.
The organization is politically neutral. In fact, the site even contains one of those automated letter writers on the following action item about two Republican politicians:
Thank Governor-Elect Crist for Addressing Discrimination
Governor-Elect Charlie Crist wants to make sure he knows if potential new staff members have a history of discrimination, including sexual orientation discrimination, and has included the question on a hiring questionnaire.
A far-right organization has launched a campaign to tell Governor-Elect Crist and Senate President-Elect Ken Pruitt that they shouldn’t care if employees have discriminated against others based on sexual orientation.
Please take a moment to Thank Charlie Crist and Ken Pruitt for caring about whether new employees have a history of discrimination.
It turns out that this organization has been seriously working for years to overturn the ban and to create the political groundwork for doing so. Last year they got close.
A partner with them in this effort was the ACLU. I want to quote in full the report of that effort written by ACLU Legislative Counsel Larry Helm Spalding:
Yesterday was an historic day in the Florida Senate. We did not prevail, but our message was heard.
Gay families, child welfare advocates, civil liberties organizations, researchers and adoption experts were able to present their case before the Senate Committee on Children & Families on a cold North Florida Valentine’s Day.
I frankly did not believe it would happen. But it did.
As I viewed yesterday’s committee calendar with an extensive agency report and six bills scheduled for consideration, I foresaw the gay adoption bill being given minimal time for consideration or bumped to next week. Instead the committee, to its absolute credit, permitted everyone who wanted to speak to do so.
And speak they did with eloquence and passion.
Frank Alexander, 18, forced to leave his home, his brothers and sisters, and his foster fathers who had raised him since he was only a few months old, led the press conference and the committee meeting. He put a face on the message the coalition was trying to convey: This is a bill about children.
He was dynamic, emotional, genuine. There was not a dry eye at the press conference after he spoke.
Cathy James told the committee if her partner of 11 years died, every heterosexual in the room would have a right to adopt her son Tyler, but not her. You could have heard a pin drop.
Coalition researchers and child welfare professionals brought a wealth of evidence that supported the end to this discriminatory ban. Their case was compelling.
Afterward legislative staffers said they had never seen such a diverse, powerful and well-prepared group of speakers. The halls of the Capitol were filled with people talking about the incredible testimony the coalition delivered.
Committee members acknowledged the avalanche of email and phone calls in support, not only from gay constituents, but also from straight couples, parents, people they knew and respected.
I want to thank each of you who responded to the ACLU Legislative Alerts asking that you contact the members of the Senate Committee on Children & Families. We are active members in the coalition and the gay adoption bills are one of our priorities for Florida Legislature 2006.
At the end of the day, the bill was temporarily passed over meaning that of the five committee members present only two, both Democrats, were prepared to vote for the bill. But we can take heart in the fact that a genuine debate has begun. This issue is no longer in the closet.
No one spoke against the bill. No senator who was prepared to vote against the bill publicly stated his or her reasons for opposition. It would have been hard to do so.
Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, who heads the coalition deserves high praise for organizing the press conference and preparing witnesses to testify before the committee. She did a masterful job. (emphasis added)
This is a battle that can be won. It will not likely be this session, but there remains work we can and must do, particularly in the House of Representatives where we hope to have the companion bill placed on the agenda soon.
Those of you who have influence with conservative members of the Florida Legislature need to reach out to them. We need to explain that this is a bill about children — children who need and deserve a loving family.
I believe family values and the moral high ground are on our side. Again thank you for your support on SB 172 and I urge your continued participation as these gay adoption companion bills move through the legislative process.
The same ACLU page quoted a Tampa Tribune article written by Jerome R. Stockfisch February 15, 2006:
Two dozen supporters addressed lawmakers, with no one rising in public opposition to the bill. That suggested heavy behind-the-scenes lobbying by conservative groups such as the Florida Catholic Conference, which acknowledged its opposition Tuesday.
Gov. Jeb Bush also said Tuesday that he thinks “current law is the appropriate policy for our state.”
Cue the booing. We can still be partisan even if they’re not. The Tribune piece also contains this:
State Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, told a packed hearing room that she did not have the votes for passage of [the] bill . . . . But Rich said her fellow advocates should celebrate the “baby step” of even getting the issue aired in the conservative Capitol.
Rich’s bill would have provided an exception to a state law passed in 1977 that bans adoptions by homosexuals.
Florida is the only state with such an outright ban, although Utah and Mississippi have enacted laws requiring adoptive parents to be married.
“I’m looking to get a foot in the door to begin to resolve this issue and eliminate this discriminating statute,” Rich said after Tuesday’s hearing. “We’re not going to let it die. Good bills take a number of years sometimes, and we’ll just keep working at it until we get people to realize the importance of changing the statute.”
That’s the secret of how the coalition has reframed the issue. They just want to allow judges to make “exceptions” on a “case-by-case basis”. Which, of course, lifts the ban without lifting the ban. It should be pointed out that all adopted parents have to presently undergo a very rigorous screening process, so adding this additional step is not prohibitive in any way.
When I first started thinking about writing this piece I thought to myself, “Boy it sure would be cool if Bob Butterworth, the newly appointed head of the Florida Department of Children and Families would come out against the ban.” Butterworth is a prominent Democrat that Crist recently appointed in a spirit of bi-partisanship.
Well, the Florida Times-Union interviewed him and guess what:
Your thoughts on gay adoption are very relevant, given DCF’s role in such cases. Your thoughts?
The law in the state is that you can’t have gay adoptions. … My feeling is that it should be up to the judge. I’m not advocating for gay or lesbian adoptions. I’m saying, let a judge decide who’s an appropriate parent or not.
He is obviously well schooled in what Equality Florida has been trying to do and is right there on the mark with the correct talking point. Bob always was politically astute.
Equality Florida has all the bases covered. The site includes a scholarly study (pdf) entitled The High Cost of Denying Permanency: An Analysis of the Economic Impact of Florida’s Adoption Ban. From the executive summary:
The long-term social, educational, and emotional costs to children
raised in foster care are well documented. But Florida’s law prohibiting
otherwise qualified gay and lesbian adults from adopting children also
takes a substantial economic toll on the State.
And from the conclusion:
Despite the massive cost, infrastructure, and best efforts of DCF staff,
community-based care contractors and foster parents, the State of Florida
has failed to provide thousands of foster children with permanent adoptive
homes.Florida’s adoption ban exacerbates this problem. Each time a child is
denied the opportunity to be adopted out of foster care because of the
ban, that child is denied the security and permanency that only adoption
can provide. In addition, the State of Florida commits to spend tens of
thousands of dollars to maintain that child unnecessarily in a foster care
system that is virtually guaranteed to lessen the child’s life prospects. In
sum, from both a fiscal and child welfare perspective, Florida’s adoption
ban comes at a high price.
In other words, not only is the proposal good for kids, it saves the state money! Talk about a no-brainer. This is what the idiocy of the right-wing fundamentalists brings us to.
But I’ve saved the best for last:
This report recommends that the Florida state legislature repeal the
current law which prohibits qualified gay and lesbian individuals and
couples from becoming adoptive parents, even for children for whom
they serve as foster parents. (emphasis added)
That’s right. Gays and lesbians can foster children in Florida, but they can’t adopt them! Whew!
Please visit this site and, if you can afford it, donate some money. If you live in Florida, go ahead and send some automated letters to your governmental representatives while you’re there. If nothing else, keep Equality Florida and all the foster children in Florida in your thoughts and prayers.
I’ll keep posting updates about the issue through the legislative session.