Florida lawmaker prods gay adoption fight

BY BILL COTTERELL AND JANINE ZEITLIN
news-press.com capital bureau, jzeitlin@news-press.com

TALLAHASSEE - She doesn't have much hope of changing the Legislature's mind on gay adoption, but a South Florida senator is determined to keep the debate going until the controversy is resolved by the Florida Supreme Court.

State Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, has filed two bills that would permit gay couples to adopt children. Rich said state law already permits such couples to be foster parents and a Miami circuit judge's decision striking down the adoption ban is on appeal.

But the leader of a successful campaign banning gay marriage in Florida's constitution said Tuesday that Rich has little chance of winning, in court or in the Legislature. John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council, said his organization is tracking the court case and the legislation, and will oppose any change.

Rich said one of her bills (SB 500) would repeal the law forbidding all homosexuals to adopt children. The other (SB 460) would allow judges to grant adoption if a child's natural parents are dead, if the child has been in foster care of the person or couple seeking to adopt, or under some other special conditions relating to the child's best interests.

"This has nothing to do with gay marriage," Rich said. "This has to do with the best interests of children."

Amendment 2, defining marriage as between a man and a woman, passed with 62 percent public support last November.

Andrew Durning, a Cape Coral father who adopted three children in Pennsylvania with his partner, is wary of letting judges decide whether allowing adoptions by gay parents is best for a child.

"There would be a margin for discrimination in my view," he said.

Marilyn Hartigan, a retired teacher living in Lehigh Acres, would not favor a proposal to repeal the ban.

"With children in particular, I really believe they need both a father and a mother because there's a complementary gender bonding rather than just connecting with one of the genders," she said.

Amanda Evans, a Florida Gulf Coast University social work professor, favors both proposals to move away from the ban. She heads the Florida chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, which opposes the ban.

Research shows the same development and advantages for children raised by gay parents as opposed to heterosexuals. Organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, have opposed barriers to adoption by gay couples.

Evans anticipates lawmakers would lean more toward looking at adoptions by gay parents on a judicial basis instead of repealing it.

"If I were a Republican lawmaker and worried about conservatives, this would be an easy way to satisfy everybody," she said.

Rich said there are thousands of children in foster care "and every one of them did not get there because of abuse and neglect in a gay household. Every one of them got there due to abuse and neglect by heterosexual parents, whose home they had to be removed from."

Stemberger said studies have proved children do best in a traditional family setting.

"I have no doubt that people who are homosexual, just like people with other issues, can be loving, caring parents," he said. "But the issue is what is best for the child."

The Miami case is pending in the Third District Court of Appeal but, whichever side wins, it is likely to reach the Florida Supreme Court. The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the district court to waive jurisdiction to the high court.

 

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	Senator Rich Addressing Seniors at the Daniel Canter Senior Center
	Nan Rich with Gradutes of Weston University
	Senator Rich with the Final Graduting Class of Weston University 2010

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