U.S. judge lifts Mississippi ban on adoptn by gay upl | CNN

Contents:

• HOW MANY STAT STILL PROHIB ADOPTN BY GAY PARENTS AND WHAT N WE DO ABOUT ?
• MANY STAT STILL PROHIB GAY ADOPTN
• ADOPTN AGENCY SHOULD BE ABLE TO REJECT GAY UPL, TMP ADMISTRATN ARGU

HOW MANY STAT STILL PROHIB ADOPTN BY GAY PARENTS AND WHAT N WE DO ABOUT ?

A lot has changed the more than 40 years sce the first gay uple adopted a baby California 1979.

Perhaps not surprisgly, more and more gay upl, specifilly, started adoptg: Same-sex upl are four tim more likely to adopt a child and six tim more likely to foster a child when pared to heterosexual upl. Wh more than 100, 00 children wag to be adopted this untry alone, allowg gay upl to adopt ensur more kids fd their forever hom. It all changed March 2016, when a feral judge overturned the gay adoptn ban Mississippi.

This was a monumental moment for gay adoptn laws the U. Whereas prr to 2016, there were stat where gay adoptn was illegal, now there are none.

MANY STAT STILL PROHIB GAY ADOPTN

As long as you meet the state requirements to adopt, you n move forward wh your adoptn stat allow gay adoptn for dividuals, married upl and upl a domtic unn. However, for unmarried upl who want to adopt a child (eher heterosexual or homosexual), ’s not always possible to do so jotly. In many of the stat where gay adoptn was illegal for so long, was bee requirements were based on maral stat, not sexual orientatn.

While is unnstutnal for married same-sex upl to be nied the right to adopt by a state agency, unfortunately, there are several stat which have passed laws agast gay adoptn based on relig eedom. This way, you n be rmed about your lol gay adoptn laws and any laws agast gay adoptn that might apply to your suatn. " She add, acrdg to Project Q, an LGBTQ news outlet, "Gay people also practice fah muni, also have relig beliefs.

Although LGBTQ adoptn bans have been challenged the urts, pecially sce the Supreme Court lg on same-sex marriage me down 2015, the discrimatory typ of bills that try to pass as "relig eedom" protectns are beg all the more mon, as evinced by a number of mov om the Tmp admistratn and some s currently beg heard by the Supreme year, as Poli reported, the Supreme Court will le on a se which a baker refed to make a weddg ke for a gay uple.

ADOPTN AGENCY SHOULD BE ABLE TO REJECT GAY UPL, TMP ADMISTRATN ARGU

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 them.

While 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 stat. “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 rights. And 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.

The 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. All 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.

In Alabama, where a feral urt overled the state’s ban on gay marriage, gay upl were also not allowed to adopt jotly. “Now that gay upl are allowed to marry, they’ll be treated like any other married uple who’s adoptg. Geia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oh and South Dakota also are changg their practic to allow married gay upl to go through the adoptn procs together.

In Alabama, married gay upl will be allowed to adopt a foster child, but they’ll have to wa longer than most—the state requir married upl terted adoptg to have been married for a year before begng the adoptn procs.

Mississippi is the only state that has a law that specifilly bars gay upl om adoptg foster children, and Julia Bryan, spokwoman for the state Department of Human Servic, said the law will be followed unls the legislature mak any chang when renven January. Gay upl the state will have to ntue to have one member of the uple formally adopt the child, she said, and then the other member has to e back later to do a send parent adoptn—a siar procs to a step parent adoptg a stepchild.

Nebraska policy prevented unmarried upl, gay or straight, om fosterg or adoptg state wards until 2012, when the state started allowg gay upl to bee foster parents, ultimately placg foster children wh 15 same-sex upl, acrdg to the Omaha World Herald. Although the urt cisn is leadg to chang some stat, others are creatg new roadblocks to gay adoptn. Some Catholic anizatns Illois and Massachetts shut down rather than vlate their nscience by servg gay upl.

But opponents of the Michigan law say s language is too broad, givg relig anizatns leeway to discrimate agast not jt gay upl, but sgle people, terracial upl, people of other fahs or anybody who they say nflicts wh their fah.

Hooker said the law don’t pose a disadvantage to gay upl bee the anizatns will have to refer anyone they turn down to an anizatn that is willg to serve them. A 2015 project at Columbia Universy assembled scholarly, peer-reviewed studi on the well-beg of children wh gay parents.

Of 77 studi, jt four found that havg gay parents negatively impacts a child. Even stat that require agenci to work wh gay upl, there are no guarante agast discrimatn cidg whether to allow them to adopt. It was a big year for gay rights Florida.