ARKANSAS: Judge Strikes Down Ban On Unmarried Couples Adopting

Mike "Children Are Not Puppies" Huckabee must be very unhappy with his home state today.

Act 1, passed by voters in 2008, unconstitutionally burdens non-marital relationships and acts of sexual intimacy between adults by forcing them to choose between becoming a parent and having any meaningful type of intimate relationship outside of marriage, Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled in a lawsuit challenging the law. “It infringes upon the fundamental right to privacy guaranteed to all citizens of Arkansas,” the judge ruled in the lawsuit filed by the ACLU. The state had argued that children are better off raised in traditional family settings, with married parents, and that the law should be upheld because it protects children from abuse and neglect.

While the Arkansas law had effectively prevented gay couples from adopting, Florida remains the only state with a specific ban.