Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman of Miami-Dade county in Florida, held, last week that the unique Florida statute barring all homosexuals from adopting was unconstitutional and therefore void. Her 53-page decision being been the subject of favorable newspaper and magazine articles, including the comprehensive and excellent articles on Examiner by Marcie Pickelsimer and Michelle Flannigan, cited below. The full decision, especially the comprehensive history of adoption rights and the references in the many footnotes by the Miami-Dade court is scholarly and may be read and appreciated by the casual reader, but for a historical review it is invaluable. While Judge Lederman’s ruling is contrary to Florida’s statutes and past decisions and is not binding on any other Court (including her own) and will certainly be appealed, it is consistent with another case from Monroe County, the Florida Keys) and is clearly morally correct. For additional background, I had written a previous article on the subject.
The issue of homosexuals being allowed to adopt is, I would suggest, part of the fight against bigotry and the denial of legal rights to everyone. The political and civil rights of all people to be unaffected by race, gender, age, ethnicity, faith and sexual orientation has been a long time ending and, indeed, the last of these remain.
There will always be among us who will never accept any one or more of these groups. Most of those individuals will deny any “bigotry” and that may be true, but the point is that we are, as a people, more and more willing to accept that no one should be denied legal and civil rights.
It is taking a long time coming.
It took about 100 years from the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the United Stated Constitution to for the legal rights of blacks to a non-segregated education, eat in a restaurant, equality in employment, and equal opportunity to rent, purchase, obtain a mortgage and occupy a residence. It was not that long ago that law in many states made marriage between whites and non-whites, defined in various ways, illegal. Some laws merely invalided them, others imposed criminal penalties. There were, and still are, laws which criminalize unmarried persons from cohabitation; these are generally ignored, just as are statutes declaring adultery a crime.
Issues such as abortion, marriage between those of different races, same-sex marriage or civil unions and the rights of gays to adopt are all civil rights in which a vocal minority presumes to speak for the rest of us. The public’s attitude, as a whole, is one of moderation and increasing acceptance in these areas, according to the Pew Research Center.
In many respects, however, these issues, such as in California and Florida and Arkansas and other states should not and cannot be determined by popular vote. When people assert that the “voters have spoken” when it comes to basic rights, the statement is without meaning. Notwithstanding the charges against “activist Judges” who improperly usurp the will of the people, these courts are doing what they should. The rights of minorities do not, in this country, depend on popularity. Freedom of speech, religion, the right to a fair trial and all other rights under the 5th and 14th Amendments to the U. S. Constitution are all due every citizen, even if 99% would deny them.
It dozen’t matter if Florida voters think it right that thousands of children are shunted from place to place under an overburdened foster care system while suitable loving foster parents are prevented from adopting solely because of sexual orientation or that voters in many states are mortally offended by the thought of same sex marriage. It is up to the courts to apply the Constitution to the facts and this is exactly what Judge Lederman has done.
Good for her – and may the rest of us catch up quickly.
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The final bigotry
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