ACLU Challenges Gay Adoption Ban in Arkansas

by Michael Jones · 2009-01-01 05:48:00 -0500
Topics:

Gay AdoptionWe're on an unintended adoption kick here at gayrights.change.org today.  In addition to this morning's post about how Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal might be working behind the scenes to push for a gay adoption ban in his home state, the ACLU is out this week with a challenge to Arkansas's ban on gay adoption, which passed in November 2008 after a statewide ballot.

The ban, known as Act 1, limits all adoption by unmarried persons.  LGBT parents were clearly harmed by the passage of Act 1 (since Arkansas does not allow LGBT people to marry), but so too were straight unmarried couples.  Now children's rights advocates are turning to the courts to overturn this ban, which they say (accurately) does a disservice to children needing healthy families.

"Act 1 violates the state's legal duty to place the best interest of children above all else," said Marie-Bernarde Miller, a Little Rock attorney in the lawsuit.

There are 29 plaintiffs in the case, including a grandmother raising a grandchild with her same-sex partner, and a lesbian couple raising two boys, one of whom is a special-needs child.  There's at least one reason to be hopeful that this lawsuit might result in the ban being overturned - the lawsuit has been assigned to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Timothy Fox, who had initially overturned a statewide gay foster parent ban that anti-gay (and anti-children!) activists sought in Arkansas in 2006.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
PREVIOUS STORY:
Is the Next GOP Nominee for President Trying to Ban Gay Adoption in His Home State?
NEXT STORY:
Bullied high schooler convinces MPAA to change ‘Bully’ rating to “PG-13”

COMMENTS (6)

    Comment Policy

    · All fields are required to comment.

    [X]

    Comments on Change.org are meant for further exploration and evaluation of the campaign on Change.org. To that end, we welcome constructive comments. However, we reserve the right to delete comments which, as determined solely in our discretion: (1) are offensive, abusive, or off-topic; (2) include content solely intended to personally attack the campaign creator, (3) are designed to subvert or hijack comment threads rather than contribute to them; and/or (4) violate our terms of service and/or privacy policy. Repeat offenders may be permanently removed from the site at our discretion. Please also be advised that: (A) we do not actively curate and/or monitor in any manner whatsoever the comments made on the Change.org platform, and (B) the creator of each campaign on Change.org may remove any comment at her/his/its discretion.