An appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that the state’s ban on gay adoption is unconstitutional.

The Florida Supreme Court will ultimately rule on the adoption ban making Florida the only state that bans gays from adopting children. The state does allow gay couples and individuals to foster children but does not allow them to adopt them. That’s at odds with Florida’s policy on “permanence” in which children are supposed to be moved as little as possible from one household to another.

A Miami-Dade County judge ruled the gay adoption ban unconstitutional in 2008 in the case of Martin Gill and his male partner, who adopted two foster children they have cared for since 2004.

Gov. Charlie Crist, whose Department of Children and Families appealed the adoption and the ruling, said recently he was considering dropping the appeal. But gay rights activists and the ACLU, which represents Gill, as well as DCF Secretary George Sheldon want the Supreme Court to make a final decision on the law to settle uncertainty for future adoptions.

Tags: ACLU, Charlie Crist, DCF, Department of Children and Families, gay adoption, gay rights, George Sheldon, Martin Gill

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 22nd, 2010 at 12:38 pm and is filed under Charlie Crist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.