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4,000 Children left behind; Jeb! “Pleased”

Ban on letting gays adopt stands

Silently sidestepping a controversial question, the U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal by four Florida men who unsuccessfully challenged the state's ban on adoptions by gays or lesbians, the only blanket law of its kind left in the nation.

The refusal came after a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled against the Florida men last year. When asked to reconsider, the full appeals court split 6-6, leaving the ruling intact. Under Florida law, gays and lesbians are permitted to serve as foster parents and legal guardians, but cannot permanently adopt.

Douglas Houghton of Miami, Wayne Larue Smith and Daniel Skahen of Key West, and Steven Lofton, a Florida resident when the case began, were represented in the appeal by the American Civil Liberties Union. The case was initially filed against the state of Florida in 1999.

Lofton and his partner began caring for a number of HIV-positive infants more than a decade ago, among them a 13-year old boy who is no longer HIV-positive and who now lives in Oregon with Lofton. Smith and Skahen are legal guardians of a 7-year-old and foster parents of an 8-year-old. Houghton, a trauma nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital, is the guardian of a 12-year-old boy.

''I certainly don't intend to just give up and lay down,'' Houghton, 42, said Monday. ``I think the majority of Americans are fair-minded people, and if they truly understood what we are talking about and what the issue is, they'd be OK with that.''

`A HARD DAY'

Smith, a lawyer in Key West, called Monday's refusal of the court to hear the case ``a huge disappointment.''

''It is a hard day to feel good about living in Florida and being a part of the legal system,'' said Smith, 49, who along with Skahen has been a foster parent to 23 children over the past six years. ``I'm saddened, but not for me. I believed when we started this case -- and I believe today -- that the law is wrong and it's a huge disservice to kids in need in Florida.''

The ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, which represented the men along with the ACLU of Florida, argued that the state unconstitutionally discriminates against gays trying to adopt.

''The plain and wellunderstood purpose of the ban was to tell gay people to go back into the closet,'' ACLU attorney Matthew Coles told justices in a filing.

GOVERNOR `PLEASED'

Gov. Jeb Bush, who has defended the law, saying that children should have a father and a mother, welcomed the court's decision.

''I was pleased that they realized that our state laws are constitutional,'' Bush said Monday while visiting a South Miami middle school. ``This ends what's been five or six years now of litigation regarding a state law that passed many years ago and that I think is the appropriate law for our state.''

Civil liberties advocates now intend to focus their energy on Florida's Legislature, which has the power to change the 1977 law, passed at the height of celebrity Anita Bryant's anti-homosexual campaign. Activists argue that the law arbitrarily rules out potential parents for thousands of abandoned children desperate for a family. Supporters of the law contend the state has the authority and obligation to promote traditional father-mother families.

''There are close to 4,000 foster children adrift in a foster care system that has been ridden with scandal,'' said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. ``People need to be judged on their individual fitness to be able to become an adoptive parent.

''There is only one group of people who are categorically excluded: gays and lesbians,'' Simon added. ``People who have a history that may indicate danger to children -- substance abuse, domestic assault, those people are not categorically barred.''

Jeb! wasn’t the only one lauding this non-decision decision.

Florida Christian Coalition executive director Bill Stephens welcomed the Supreme Court's decision, saying, "We're just pleased that children are going to get protected, that courts are doing what's in the best interest of children and keeping them in heterosexual homes."

He and other supporters of the ban said the court's ruling promotes the most stable and helpful family arrangement for children.

"Marriage is the union of one man and one woman because it's best for our children and best for our society," said Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, a Christian law organization in Orlando, which filed a brief in the case.

I guess everyone can agree that kids are better off in the care of a loving, heterosexual Christian than to be forced into a lifestyle like this.

Frank, 14 going on 41, explains very patiently that their school merges two grades together with older kids like him directly tutoring the younger ones. Tracy, also 14, tugs at her skirt and quietly plays with her braids. Bert, "almost 11," stops talking about his swim team just long enough to tease Tracy over whether her braids are real. Wayne and Ernie, 8 and 5, are almost impossible to tell apart-even if they ever would stop giggling and sit still long enough.

And all the while, Steve Lofton and Roger Croteau-"Dad and Rodge"- alternately beam and nag. "Use your napkin." "Come here, let's blow your nose." "Do you need some help with your sweater?"

What their home lacks in silence it makes up for in warmth. Every kid knows he or she is loved completely and unconditionally. And everyone who comes into contact with them-from the mailman who admires their crazy home-made mailbox to the waitress who quickly surrenders all efforts to keep silverware on the table-can't help but see that the kids are the center of Steve and Roger's universe.

They may not be Ward, June, Wally, and Beaver Cleaver, but in just an hour with them it becomes clear that they're a family by any definition. Except Florida's.

No gay people in Florida can adopt children-period. Frank, Tracy, and Bert have never known any other family. They came home to Steve and Roger when they were infants. All of their memories-first days of school, 5th birthdays, first vacations to California-are with Steve and Roger and each other.

But because of Florida's ban on gay adoption, they have no guarantees. The state is now actively looking for another adoptive family for Bert-starting the process of taking him from the family he's been part of since he was nine weeks old. Meanwhile, 3,400 kids in Florida are ready to be adopted, waiting in foster care. The state's gay adoption ban helps keep them there.