Arkansas Supreme Court Expands Gay Adoptn Rights - WSJ

Contents:

• ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT STRIK DOWN BAN ON GAY ADOPTNS
• ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT EXPANDS GAY ADOPTN RIGHTS
• ACLU OF ARKANSAS DECRI ADOPTN AND FOSTER CARE BILL AS ANTI-GAY AND ANTI-CHILD
• DPE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LG, GAY ADOPTN RIGHTS UNCERTA SOME STAT
• ACLU APPLDS DEFEAT OF ANTI-GAY ADOPTN AND FOSTER CARE BILL; CALLS DEFEAT A TREMENDO VICTORY FOR ARKANSAS CHILDREN
• SURROGACY: A GAY ADOPTN ALTERNATIVE
• LGBT ADOPTN: ARE GAYS ALLOWED TO ADOPT UNED STAT?

ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT STRIK DOWN BAN ON GAY ADOPTNS

Opposn of religly based refals to serve gay and lbian people?

Support of homosexualy by US state? HistoryHomosexual activy Arkansas?

Homosexual activy Arkansas is legal. Current statSce Oct 29, 2001Legal Supreme Court overturned 1977 law banng homosexual activySame-sex marriage Arkansas? Current statSce Sep 20, 2011Legal Don't Ask, Don't Tell is officially repealed throughout the Uned Stat, and gays and lbians may openly donatns by MSMs Arkansas?

ARKANSAS SUPREME COURT EXPANDS GAY ADOPTN RIGHTS

It prohibs unmarried upl who live together om adoptg children, effect shuttg out gay and lbian upl, who are not allowed to marry the state. "The Arkansas Supreme Court has removed a discrimatory barrier for lovg gay and lbian upl who, child welfare experts agree, are equally able parents, " said Human Rights Campaign Print Joe Solmone.

" "This ban wouldn’t even allow a relative -- gay or straight -- to foster or adopt a child wh whom they had a close relatnship, so long as that relative was unmarried and livg wh a partner, " she said. Cox said that "all available optns are still on the table, " specifilly namg the possibily of brgg the gay adoptn ban back as a state nstutnal amendment or explorg the possibily of passg a law through the legislature.

ACLU OF ARKANSAS DECRI ADOPTN AND FOSTER CARE BILL AS ANTI-GAY AND ANTI-CHILD

Other stat have implic bans that don't necsarily outlaw gay adoptn but make very difficult practice. " The new proposal would "force state-licensed private and church-n agenci to allow unmarried upl -- heterosexual or homosexual -- to adopt children. About Gay & Lbian Hoeholds wh Adoptive Children.

DPE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LG, GAY ADOPTN RIGHTS UNCERTA SOME STAT

Gay and lbian parents are raisg 4% of all adopted children unr the age of 18 the Uned Stat. Sgle Lbian/Gay Individual: 3%. An timated 65, 500 adopted children are livg wh a lbian or gay parent.

Below are the 10 stat wh the hight numbers of adopted children, unr the age of 18, who are livg lbian and gay hoeholds. As an extensn of this lg, a law banng gay adoptn Mississippi was overturned 2016, makg jot LGBT adoptn legal all 50 stat. In 2017, the US Supreme Court reversed a state urt’s lg that gay married upl mt get a urt orr to have both spo listed on their children’s birth certifit.

ACLU APPLDS DEFEAT OF ANTI-GAY ADOPTN AND FOSTER CARE BILL; CALLS DEFEAT A TREMENDO VICTORY FOR ARKANSAS CHILDREN

“Adoptn and Foster Care by Gay and Lbian Parents the Uned Stat. “An evaluatn of gay/lbian and heterosexual adoptn.

“Parentg by gay fathers. The iative stemmed om a Supreme Court se about the Arkansas's Child Welfare Agency Review Board that had tablished an admistrative policy that banned gay people om servg as foster parents. ↑ Huffgton Post, "Arkansas Adoptn Ban Overturned: Law Kept Unmarried Straight, Gay Coupl From Adoptg, " April 16, 2010, accsed March 21, 2014.

High urt fds adoptn law biased agast gay upl, " Apr 07, 2011. 1 Arkansas Gay-Adoptn Ban Hs Roadblock, Cizen Lk, September 9, 2007. "As of now, gay and unmarried upl are able to apply to adopt or foster children [ Arkansas], " says Christe Sun, the lead attorney for the platiffs and member of the ACLU's LGBT project.

SURROGACY: A GAY ADOPTN ALTERNATIVE

Platiffs volved the se, which challenged Act 1's nstutnaly, clud a lbian uple, two gay male upl, three children foster re, and two married heterosexual upl who had signated their will that gay upl be their children's adoptive parents the event of their ath. end an outright ban on gay adoptn--sgle or partnered-- Arkansas. Florida's ban on gay adoptn-- 2008 a Miami judge led a gay father.

After a seven-year urt battle by the ACLU, the Arkansas Supreme Court stck down a state regulatn that banned gay people and anyone livg a hoehold wh a gay adult om beg foster parents.

The urt found that children are not harmed by livg wh gay or lbian parents. “Throughout the trial we prented a variety of experts who proved that the state’s jtifitns for this ban were nothg but basels myths about gay people, ” said Llie Cooper, a staff attorney wh the ACLU’s Lbian and Gay Rights Project. Beg raised by gay parents don’t crease the risk of psychologil, behavral, or amic problems for children.

LGBT ADOPTN: ARE GAYS ALLOWED TO ADOPT UNED STAT?

Children of lbian and gay parents are jt as well adjted as children of straight parents. There is no factual basis for sayg that heterosexual parents might be better able to gui children through adolcence than gay parents. There are no reasons that health, safety, or welfare of a foster child might be negatively impacted by livg a foster home where there is a gay person prent.

Florida’s 1977 ban on gay adoptn had only recently been overturned when the Nurs began lookg to take foster children 2011 wh the hope of ultimately adoptg same-sex upl have long been able to adopt om private, gay-iendly adoptn agenci, adoptg children om the foster re system has proved more difficult some U. “Marriage don’t create this pletely certa playg field, ” said Ellen Kahn, director of the children, youth and fai program at the Human Rights Campaign, which advot for gay some stat have taken up legislatn that would allow taxpayer-fund ntractors that oversee state adoptns to refe to let gay or lbian dividuals adopt children if nflicts wh the anizatn’s relig beliefs.

Michigan passed such a law right before the urt Nurs beme faiar wh all the roadblocks when adoptg Cameron and their two other uple found they were limed which ntractors they uld work wh bee some wouldn’t allow gay and lbian upl to adopt. And though Florida’s ban on gay adoptn was overturned 2010, the Nurs were unable to marry the state until this year. The adoptns had to be filed unr Daniel’s name only, and the uple faced the add time and expense of addg Casanova’s name Com State by StateThirteen stat—Arkansas, Geia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oh, South Dakota, Tennsee and Texas—prohibed same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court but Arkansas and Tennsee also had polici that did not allow gay and lbian upl to adopt foster children jotly, acrdg to the Human Rights Campaign.