Citizens in Maine and Washington will vote to repeal gay marriage or domestic partnership laws in defiance of their lawmakers and Governor

Citizens in two states decide whether or not to keep gay marriage, or institutions similar to them.  

In Maine voters will decide to override the Maine House of Representatives, Senate, and even the Governor to repeal their new "same-sex marriage law," or more appropriately chartered,  Maine's Marriage Equality Act.

In Washington citizens are also fighting the states expanded domestic partnership bill.  The expanded law adds benefits including the right to use sick leave to care for a domestic partner, and rights related to adoption, child custody and child support.

I am not sure I like the system of government in these two states; gay rights groups fought long and hard for these new laws, and after years of getting them passed in the legislature, signed into law by the sitting Governor, it could all be reversed!   

Religious groups in both states have spent millions and millions of dollars attempting to reverse these laws.

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Kentucky Senator files gay adoption ban in the Kentucky Senate

The party created as an opposition to the expansion of slavery, as well as a new, progressive vision of modernizing the United States — emphasizing higher education, banking, railroads, industry and cities continues to slide backwards as Kentucky Senator Gary Tapp (R) files a gay (LGBTI) adoption ban in the Kentucky Senate; Senate Bill 68.

> Click here to sign the petition to stop this immoral act!

Senator Tapp may have forgotten the 2008 General Election, which was an enormous victory for Democrats on a national level (both in terms of Governors, State Houses, and state Congressional delegations).

During a time when the Republican Party is on its knees (they could not match the donations of Democrats nationally during the 2008 Election), this adoption ban is another smack down to the Republican Party, and it is shameful.

The Log Cabin Republicans issued this press release after the 2008 Election defeats:

Inevitably, social conservatives will try to push the GOP further right on the divisive wedge issues that caused our Party to lose focus on its core principles in the first place. Their intrusive big government ideology drove our Party over the cliff. Going further right on social issues will turn the GOP into a regional party only competitive in the South and Midwest. Instead, we must become a more diverse Party appealing to conservatives, libertarians, and moderate voters.

To the Log Cabin Republicans, good luck; you have a tough road ahead of you in Kentucky (we all do). Honestly, how sad that a party has gotten so far off track!

Never mind the fact that Florida just struck down their gay adoption ban as being unconstitutional; though currently under appeal, Judge Lederman stated, "The court found that moral preference against homosexuality has no bearing on whether gay or lesbian individuals can adopt because many homosexual individuals serve as foster parents in Florida to abused children and permitting them to adopt those children (in particular) does not serve any state interest whatsoever."

Various professional organizations have carefully studied the scientific research and issued policy statements supporting adoption by gay and lesbian people. These organizations include: American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Academy of Family Physicians, American Psychoanalytic Association, National Council of Adoptable Children, Child Welfare League of America, National Association of Social Workers, and others.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, there is no credible scientific evidence that the sexual orientation of parents has any effect either on the quality of parenting or on the wellbeing of their children.

The best interest of the child should be the only consideration when selecting good homes for these children.

Gay and lesbian people currently raise children in Kentucky as biological parents, foster parents, legal guardians and increasingly as part of planned families through alternative insemination and surrogate parenting.

Though Senator Tapp filed this as an 'unmarried couples' adoption ban (which passed in Arkansas), it is being challenged in the courts and I have no doubt they shall prevail. Again, the best interest of the child should be the only consideration when selecting good homes for these children.

> Click here to sign the petition to stop this immoral act!

Florida Supreme Court to rule on same-sex adoption ban

In 2008, two separate Florida Circuit Court Judge's ruled that Florida's 30-year-old gay adoption ban unconstitutional. In 2009, the Florida Supreme Court will have the final word.

According to a Fort Myers newspaper, thirty-seven foster children in Southwest Florida have no prospects for permanent, loving families.

Under current law, gay people are not allowed to adopt children, but a recent court ruling making its way to the state's Supreme Court may change that.

Click here to read the entire article.

Kentucky Court of Appeals rejects adoption by lesbian couple

In a shocking ruling, the Kentucky Court of Appeals struck down another court ruling allowing a woman to co-parent her same-sex partner’s child.

The ruling also made clear: No more cases involving co-parenting by same-sex couples.

“It is not this or any court’s role to judge whether the legislature’s prohibition of same-sex marriage … is morally defensible or socially enlightened,” the appeals court said in a written ruling.

The statement from the court is shocking since the judicial branch of government has oversight of legislative acts. Since the founding of our nation minority groups have turned to the courts for equal treatment.

Hopefully, this ruling will be challenged (to the Kentucky Supreme Court). But, a study published in 2007 by the Supreme Court of California found that of all state supreme courts in the United States, the decisions of the Kentucky Supreme Court were the least followed by other states' appellate courts.

Florida Judge Rules Gay Adoption Ban Unconstitutional

A Florida judge has found the state's 31-year ban on gay adoptions to be unconstitutional, reports the Miami Herald. The ruling from Judge David Audlin Jr. will allow a gay Key West resident to adopt the teenage boy he has raised as a foster parent since 2001.

Judge Audlin said the adoption was in the child's "best interest" and asserted that barring gays from adopting conflicted with the state constitution since it targets a specific group for punishment. Audlin had appointed the foster father to be the boy's legal guardian in 2006. At a hearing earlier this year, the order says the boy testified that he wanted the man to be his "forever father...because I love him," the Herald reports.

''Contrary to every child welfare principle,'' Audlin wrote in his opinion, ''the gay adoption ban operates as a conclusive or irrebuttable presumption that...it is never in the best interest of any adoptee to be adopted by a homosexual.''

Florida and Mississippi are the only two states that currently forbid gays and lesbians from adopting children. (The Advocate)