ALABAMA: Marriage Equality Plaintiffs Finally Win Their Adoption Battle

AL.com reports:

Nine years later, Khaya Searcy has two legal parents. On Friday, retired Baldwin County Circuit Court Judge James Reid granted the adoption for Cari Searcy in Mobile County Probate Court. His approval of the measure ended a winding and politically fraught legal battle for Searcy and her wife Kim McKeand, Khaya's biological mother.

Their four-year-long quest to adopt the child led to a federal judge overturning the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage earlier this year. "It was such a surreal feeling when (Reid) said 'it's in the best interest of this boy to have two legal parents,'" Searcy said. "For me, that's when I broke down. It's very emotional and a day we've been waiting for a long, long time."

Searcy first filed paperwork in Mobile County Probate Court in 2011 to legally adopt the boy, whom she has raised since birth. After a brief hearing, Mobile County Probate Judge Don Davis rejected the petition in April 2012, citing the state's ban on same-sex marriage. The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals later upheld that decision. In February, a federal judge ruled that Searcy could not be denied her desire to adopt Khaya, clearing the way for same-sex marriage in Alabama.

I don't recommend the comments at the link.

FLORIDA: Gov. Rick Scott Signs Bill Removing Unenforced Gay Adoption Ban

Florida's 1977 ban on gay adoption was struck down by a Miami-Dade County court in 2008. The state appealed that ruling, but it was upheld in a 2010 state district appeals court decision. Following that appeals court ruling then-Gov. Charlie Crist announced that the ban would no longer be enforced, but it took until earlier this year for the state legislature to formally strike the law. In March hate group leader John Stemberger sent a letter to all Florida legislators, telling them that the 2010 ruling only applies to the counties under the jurisdiction of the appeals court and that the Department of Children & Families is infested with pro-gay workers anyway. Stemberger had a lovely meltdown on Twitter last night following the governor's signing.

Ryan Anderson Celebrates Hate Bills

Anderson writes for the Heritage Foundation:

Earlier today, the North Carolina House voted to override the veto of S.B. 2, a bill that protects the religious liberty of civil servants in that state. Because the Senate had already voted to override the veto as well, the bill is now law. This is good public policy, and it is a shame that it was vetoed in the first place. The law will now protect magistrates who object to performing solemnizing ceremonies for same-sex marriages and clerks who object to issuing same-sex marriage licenses. It also makes clear that no one can be denied a marriage license, but magistrates or clerks could recuse themselves from the process behind the scenes should they have sincere objections to same-sex marriage. So it’s a win-win for everyone. No one loses anything. After all, government employees have rights, and those rights should be protected. Had this bill not become law, magistrates and clerks who decline to take part in same-sex marriages could have been removed from office, and “shall” be guilty of a crime that is punishable by up to 120 days in jail.

Lambda Legal: Michigan & North Carolina Laws Are Worse Than Indiana's RFRA

Via press release from Lambda Legal:

Today was a discouraging day for equality and justice. Michigan today enacted a law that allows state-funded adoption and foster care agencies to turn people away on religious grounds, and North Carolina enacted a law allowing government magistrates to refuse to perform civil marriage ceremonies for couples whose union they object to on religious grounds. For anyone with delusions that the work for LGBT rights is close to being done, think again. These laws will be used to deny loving homes to Michigan children in need and to subject same-sex couples to the indignity of being turned away by government-funded agencies in Michigan and by government officials in North Carolina. That that discrimination is based on religion is no excuse. Discrimination inspired by religious views is still discrimination. These measures are in some ways worse than what happened in Indiana because Michigan and North Carolina will be using tax dollars to support such discrimination. Good public policy helps people--it shouldn't hurt them. We expect Lambda Legal's Help Desk will light up with calls from those who suffer discrimination imposed by these laws, and we stand ready to help.

Their help desk is here.

BREAKING: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder Signs Anti-Gay Adoption Bills Into Law

Via press release from Snyder's office:

Gov. Rick Snyder today signed legislation ensuring Michigan children up for adoption have the greatest opportunity to be placed in loving homes. "The state has made significant progress in finding more forever homes for Michigan kids in recent years and that wouldn't be possible without the public-private partnerships that facilitate the adoption process," Snyder said. "We are focused on ensuring that as many children are adopted to as many loving families as possible regardless of their makeup."

House Bills 4188, 4189 and 4190, sponsored by lawmakers from both parties -- state Reps. Andrea LaFontaine, R-Columbus Township, Harvey Santana, D-Detroit, and Eric Leutheuser, R-Hillsdale, respectively, help continue Michigan's successful placement of children with loving families by codifying current adoption practices within the state. Under the legislation, faith-based agencies that contract with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services can operate in accordance with their beliefs.

The bills also require child placement agencies that decline any services to prospective parents to promptly provide information and a list of alternative adoption agencies willing and able to serve them. They do not change current practices in Michigan, but prevent faith-based agencies from having policies forced on them that violate their religious beliefs, which have resulted in agencies closing in Massachusetts, Illinois, California, and Washington, D.C.

MICHIGAN: Activists Call On Gov. Snyder To Veto Anti-Gay Adoption Bills

Yesterday the Michigan Senate approved a trio of anti-gay adoption bills that will soon head to the desk of Gov. Rick Snyder.  LGBT groups are calling on Snyder to veto the bills, but so far he hasn't tipped his hand.

Gov. Rick Snyder has been coy about whether he'll support the bills if they reach his desk. He said earlier this year that the adoption bills would need further review and that he's in favor of children being adopted by "loving families" and "loving parents." He didn't specify if that included same-sex couples. On Wednesday, Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel, said the governor will carefully review the bills "through the lens of what will ensure that we are taking care of the most Michigan children, and matching them with their forever families." Critics of the bills have derided the legislation as state-sanctioned discrimination — especially because many of the faith-based agencies receive public funding from the state. But supporters say it will help keep all options open for adoptive parents, while not forcing the agencies to compromise their principles for fear of legal retaliation or face closure because of a loss of state funding.

Lambda Legal provides the link to contact Snyder.

MICHIGAN: Anti-Gay Adoption Bill Nears Final Approval After Senate Passage

Via the Detroit News:

The state Senate gave final approval Wednesday to legislation allowing faith-based foster care and adoption agencies to invoke “sincerely held religious beliefs” to turn away gay and lesbian couples wanting to adopt children. Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof, R-West Olive, said the legislation “protects the valuable role” of the state’s many adoption agencies with varied goals and “better supports” faith-based agencies already handling state-funded adoptions. Meekhof said the bills as “very close to my heart. I am the proud product of a faith-based adoption,” he said. The Republican-controlled Senate passed the bills on party-line votes of 26-12. Democrats tried to derail the legislation by arguing it would give faith-based adoption agencies a license to discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, as well as those of other faiths who want to raise 13,000 Michigan children waiting for adoption. They unsuccessfully sought a series of amendments to the bills.

The bill first passed in the House earlier this year in a 65-44 vote. It now goes back to the House for reconciliation, after which it goes to Gov. Rick Snyder. 

In Their Own Words: HRC Recaps Anti-Gay Positions Of Graham And Santorum

Greenland Approves Same-Sex Marriage

Google Translate has a bit of difficulty with Danish, but our resident international expert, JMG reader Luis, advises us that Greenland's Parliament has just voted unanimously to adopt Danish laws legalizing same-sex marriage and gay adoption. Greenland is an autonomous country within the kingdom of Denmark and is not a member of the United Nations. More than three times the size of Texas, Greenland has a population of about 57,000.

The Final Nail In Regnerus Study Coffin

Miranda Blue writes at Right Wing Watch:

In an upcoming article, a pair of sociologists are putting what they call the “final nail in the coffin” of the much-criticized study by University of Texas sociologist Mark Regnerus that purported to show that being raised by gay and lesbian parents harms children. The Regnerus study has become a favorite tool of Religious Right activists seeking to show that households led by same-sex couples are bad for children. At the same time, the study has come under scrutiny for the funding it received from anti-gay groups and for its lack of respondents who were actually raised in same-sex parent households. Indiana University's Brian Powell and the University of Connecticut’s Simon Cheng didn’t just find methodological flaws in Regnerus’ research — they took the data he collected, cleaned it up, and redid the study, coming to a very different conclusion about families led by same-sex couples. Their article will be published in “Social Science Research,” the same journal that published the Regnerus study. By eliminating suspect data — for example, a 25-year-old respondent who claimed to be 7’8” tall, 88 pounds, married 8 times and with 8 children, and another who reported having been arrested at age 1 — and correcting what they view as Regnerus’ methodological errors, Cheng and Powell found that Regnerus’ conclusions were so “fragile” that his data could just as easily show that children raised by gay and lesbian parents don’t face negative adult outcomes.

Hit the link for much more.

Wells Fargo Ad Stars Adoptive Gay Moms Learning Sign Language For Daughter

ARIZONA: GOP Gov. Doug Ducey Revokes Ban On Adoption By Gay Couples

From the Arizona Daily Star:

Just a week after Gov. Doug Ducey vigorously advocated for more adoptions regardless of the parents sexual preference, he found he had to overturn a state policy blocking gay adoptions. Ducey issued an order late Wednesday voiding a Department of Child Safety policy of refusing to certify legally married gay couples for adoption or permitting them to jointly be foster parents. A spokesman for the governor said he just learned about the policy earlier Wednesday. In a sharply worded statement, the governor said his administration is "unambiguously and unapologetically pro-adoption,'' and the policy, instituted without his knowledge, is unacceptable. The governor's move came two months after former agency head Charles Flanagan quietly reversed what had been the policy of allowing such adoptions since last October, when a federal judge struck down Arizona's constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between one man and one woman.

Flanagan was fired by Ducey earlier this year.

FLORIDA: John Stemberger Won't Give Up On Anti-Gay Adoption Bill

FLORIDA: State Senate Tables Anti-Gay Adoption Bill For Time Being

Via the Miami Herald:

The Florida Senate Rules Committee on Monday didn’t vote to move forward with a proposal allowing private agencies to deny adoptions by gay and lesbian couples on religious or moral grounds. The bill was temporarily postponed and may be brought up again by the same committee, said state Rep. David Richardson, Florida’s first openly gay lawmaker. “However, this committee does not have any more meetings scheduled this Legislative session. It would have to be a special order of the Senate president to convene the committee and continue hearing the bill,” said Richardson, D-Miami Beach. Committee Chairman David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, said he would work with Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, to determine how to proceed.

Equality Florida reacts: "With the clock running out, it is very likely the end of the line for this bad bill. The bottom line is the bill is unconstitutional. It would have allowed state-funded discrimination and in doing so threatened hundreds of millions of federal dollars for foster care and adoption. It was written in way to allow a broad range of discrimination at taxpayer expense."

EL SALVADOR: Legislature Advances Bans On Gay Adoption And Marriage

Via the Associated Press:

A bill that would ban same-sex marriage in El Salvador has won preliminary approval from the legislature. A package of constitutional reforms approved Thursday night also would bar same-sex couples from adopting children. The reforms will not take effect unless they are ratified by a two-thirds majority in the next legislative session, which will open on May 1. That would mean the changes would have to win support from at least 56 congressional deputies. Last night, the bills were backed by 47 of the 84 members.

In 2009 similar bans failed to become law.

FLORIDA: Repeal Of Gay Adoption Ban Clears Final Legislative Hurdle

Via the Associated Press:

Florida's ban on gay adoption is getting tossed out by the state's Republican-controlled Legislature. The Florida Senate on Tuesday voted 27-11 for an adoption bill that repeals the law first passed in 1977. It now heads to Gov. Rick Scott. Sen. Don Gaetz, the sponsor of the bill, called the current ban "meaningless" because it is no longer enforced. An appeals court ruled it unconstitutional in 2010. But Sen. Alan Hays called the repeal of the ban "a poison pill." He urged legislators to consider the long-term implications of repealing the ban. The House has passed a separate "conscience" law that would allow faith-based organizations handling adoptions to refuse to let gays adopt. It's not clear if the Senate will pass the measure.

The bill passed after this speech by GOP Sen. Don Gaetz.

LIVE VIDEO: Florida Lawmakers Debate Anti-Gay Adoption Amendment

Watch it live.

UPDATE: From the Human Rights Campaign.

Proponents of this troubling legislation were unsuccessful yesterday in making the language an amendment to a broader adoption overhaul bill in the Senate (SB 320), but members of the Florida House of Representatives could vote for passage of their discriminatory adoption bill (HB 7111) as early as today. HB 7111 passed through the House Judiciary Committee with a vote of 11-4 on April 2nd. The bill strips otherwise eligible, prospective parents of legal recourse if they’ve been discriminated against and prohibits the state from withholding taxpayer money from agencies discriminating against qualified families. One of the cruelest consequences of the bill is that it would allow agencies to refuse to place foster children with members of their extended families - a practice often considered to be in the best interest of the child - based on the relative’s marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, political affiliation, or religion. A loving, unmarried grandparent, for example, or a stable, welcoming relative of a different faith could be deemed unsuitable under the proposed law.

UPDATE II: The bill passed overwhelmingly and entirely along party lines.

FLORIDA: State Senate Rejects Bid To Allow Anti-Gay Adoption Discrimination

Via Equality Florida:

In a stunning turnaround late this afternoon, the Florida Senate blocked efforts to allow Indiana-style discrimination in adoption. In doing so they derailed an effort that originated in the House of Representatives to reintroduce an anti-gay adoption law in Florida. Former Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Destin, was an eloquent opponent, stating “We don’t need to turn back the social clock in this state to 1977,” the year Florida banned gay and lesbian people from adopting children. “We applaud Senator Gaetz for rallying his colleagues to stop this disastrous effort to put discrimination back into Florida law.” said Nadine Smith, CEO of Equality Florida. “Now is not the time for Florida to look back to its ugly past. It is time to secure full equality and chart a fair and inclusive path for our state.”

The bill has one more reading in the state Senate before it heads to the desk of Gov. Rick Scott.

FLORIDA: House Panel Advances Bill To Allow Anti-LGBT Adoption Discrimination

This bill is apparently a different version of the bill that advanced a couple of weeks ago, when I wrote this recap of the situation:

Florida's 1977 ban on gay adoption was struck down by a Miami-Dade County court in 2008. The state appealed that ruling, but it was upheld in a 2010 state district appeals court decision. Following that appeals court ruling then-Gov. Charlie Crist announced that the ban would no longer be enforced, making last week's House strike down of the 1977 statute merely symbolic. That symbolic gesture must still be approved by the Florida Senate and Gov. Rick Scott. Enter hate group leader John Stemberger, who yesterday sent a letter to all Florida legislators, telling them that the 2010 ruling only applies to the counties under the jurisdiction of the appeals court and that the Department of Children & Families is infested with pro-gay workers anyway. To sum up, the haters are vowing to stop the final approval of a bill striking down a moot law and they want to legalize anti-gay discrimination by adoption agencies.

FLORIDA: House Advances Bill To Allow Adoption Agencies To Refuse Gay Couples

Via SaintPetersBlog:

One week after striking down a ban on gay adoption a House panel on Thursday approved a proposed committee bill that would allow private child placing agencies to refuse to perform adoptions without risking their state contracts if the placement violates their religious or moral convictions. The proposed bill, PCB HHSC 15-03, was supported by the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Florida Eagle Forum, a self-described “pro-family” group, and opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Organization for Women and organizations representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advocates, among others. Committee Chairman Jason Brodeur said the bill is necessary in light of the state’s move to eliminate the ban on gay adoption. Without the bill, he said, the private agencies “might likely have to shut down because they can’t reconcile their beliefs with the state.”

Florida's 1977 ban on gay adoption was struck down by a Miami-Dade County court in 2008. The state appealed that ruling, but it was upheld in a 2010 state district appeals court decision. Following that appeals court ruling then-Gov. Charlie Crist announced that the ban would no longer be enforced, making last week's House strike down of the 1977 statute merely symbolic. That symbolic gesture must still be approved by the Florida Senate and Gov. Rick Scott.

Enter hate group leader John Stemberger, who yesterday sent a letter to all Florida legislators, telling them that the 2010 ruling only applies to the counties under the jurisdiction of the appeals court and that the Department of Children & Families is infested with pro-gay workers anyway.

The DCA decision is merely “persuasive” authority but it is not binding authority statewide. The opinion of Adoption of XXG, is binding or controlling authority, only within Miami-Dade and Monroe counties where the jurisdiction of the Third District Court of Appeals lies. Further, the opinion was decided on highly questionable legal grounds because the court “discovered” Florida’s Constitution was somehow suddenly in conflict with Florida’s Statutes. DCF has for many years ignored the law and placed children with homosexuals for the simple reason that the agency is filled at a local level with pro-gay rights employees. DCF has ignored and side-stepped the prohibition in Florida’s law for many years and placed children with homosexual parents. DCF would place homosexuals as foster parents (which Florida law allows as a non-permanent placement) and then just arrange for adoptions for those persons and look the other way as to the gay man’s “roommate” or “friend.” Because of the false cover of Adoption of XXG opinion, the agency continues the same practice, but now openly and aggressively.

To sum up, the haters are vowing to stop the final approval of a bill striking down a moot law and they want to legalize anti-gay discrimination by adoption agencies.

RELATED: Stemberger, you may recall, has declared that the battle against same-sex marriage is "worth dying for." He's also the head of Trail Life USA, the anti-Boy Scouts group.