Banning same sex adoption
"Why haven't you two left Mississippi?"
That is a frequent question asked of me, Susan, and my wife Kathy over the years. Truth be told, the thought has crossed our minds. Years ago, we even got maps out and dreamed about where we might want to go.
Ultimately, we chose to stay in Mississippi because we wanted to be a part of the change we knew would appear. We wanted our nearly four-decades-long relationship and hard-earned visibility in our community to be a testament to other LGBTQ Mississippians coming after us.
We don't wish for others to be required to acquiesce to Southern "respectability" by denying their humanity or hiding as society expected of us in when we'd draw the blinds inside our home.
Our original wedding day was 22 years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that would grant marriage equality to gay and lesbian couples. We told a group of close friends they were attending a house blessing on that important day.
One of our dearest friends, a priest, married us—though he was at chance of being defrocked for officiating a ceremony for a lesbian couple. Neither of
What to Know About Same-Sex Adoption Laws in the U.S.
Same-sex adoption laws have come a prolonged way in the United States. For many years, same-sex couples could not adopt together due to discrimination and adoption requirements that they couldn’t legally meet.
So, why is same-sex adoption legal today?
It all changed in March , when a federal evaluate overturned the gay adoption ban in Mississippi. Thanks to the marriage equality ruling of Obergefell vs. Hodges, a precedent was set; because marriage was now legal to same-sex couples, it only logically followed that they couldn’t be denied the rights of any other married couple to adopt a child.
This was a monumental moment for gay adoption laws in the U.S., shaping the legislation and legality of the act around the country. However, while married couples can now adopt jointly in any state, there are still some legal complications that arise in adoptions with unmarried LGBT couples. As always, if you’re considering adoption for your LGBT family, it’s best to consult with an experienced adoption attorney in your state.
If you are a
Adoption agency should be able to reject gay couples, Trump administration argues
The Trump administration submitted a brief to the Supreme Court on Wednesday arguing that a taxpayer-funded organization should be fit to refuse to work with same-sex couples and others whom the group considers to be in violation of its religious beliefs.
The brief was filed by the Department of Justice in the case Fulton v. Capital of Philadelphia, which centers on the refusal of Catholic Social Services, a religious nonprofit that operates a child welfare agency in Philadelphia, to place adoptive and foster children with same-sex couples in violation of the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance.
In its brief, the government argued that “Philadelphia has impermissibly discriminated against religious exercise,” and that the city’s actions “reflect unconstitutional hostility toward Catholic Social Services’ religious beliefs.”
The latter argument cites a recent Supreme Court case in which the government intervened on behalf of baker Jack Phillips who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple due
How Did the Law Regarding Same-Sex Adoption Change in the U.S.?
For the longest noun, same-sex couples weren’t able to adopt children in this noun. If a LGBT person was lucky, they could adopt a child on their own and then raise the child with their partner. But to act this, they had to oppose their sexual orientation. Adoption agencies would never approve an adoption for someone who was LGBT.
As more and more states legalized same-sex marriage, more LGBT couples became able to adopt children. This isn’t because adoption agencies suddenly lost their biases and discriminatory attitudes. It’s only because there was no longer a legal basis for their denying same-sex adoptions.
Prior to the legalization of same-sex marriage, adoption agencies relied on an applicant’s marital status to deny an adoption. This meant that, since LGBT couples couldn’t legally marry, they couldn’t legally adopt children either.
All of this changed a several years ago. There were two major cases that finally made LGBT couple adoptions possible. Houston LGBT lawyers are very familiar with these cases a