I blubbed.
Sep. 24th, 2008 01:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jhameiaYou might, too.
Two months after the foster child came to live in Wayne LaRue Smith's two-story Key West home, the brown-eyed 5-year-old boy looked up from the kitchen table and, in a plaintive voice, asked what seemed a simple question.
``Will you be my daddy?''
At first, Smith, a foster father who has cared for 33 children in state custody, could not say yes.
Smith, who is openly gay, could raise other people's children. But in Florida, the only state that outright bans all gay people from adopting, he could never adopt a child of his own.
Until now.
.........
''Chief among the interests served by Florida's adoption law is the best interest of Florida children,'' Assistant Attorney General Valerie J. Martin has written. ``Can it be seriously contended that an arguably rational basis does not exist for placing adoptive children in the mainstream of American family life?''
The state did not defend the ban, however, in Audlin's court.
In a strongly worded 67-page order signed Aug. 29, Audlin wrote that Florida's 1977 gay adoption ban arose out of ''unveiled expressions of bigotry'' when the state was experiencing a severe backlash to demands for civil rights by gay people in Miami.
''Disqualifying every gay Floridian from raising a family, enjoying grandchildren or carrying on the family name, based on nothing more than lawful sexual conduct, while assuring child abusers, terrorists, drug dealers, rapists and murderers at least individualized consideration,'' Audlin wrote, was so ''disproportionately severe'' that it violates the state and U.S. constitutions.
...
Smith and Skahen were, in most respects, model foster parents, state records showed.
''The applicant is seen as nurturing, stable and devoted,'' a social worker's home study concluded. ``As an individual, he is considered to hold high moral character and is known to be gentle and patient.''
...
Smith and Skahen now are raising the 12-year-old boy Smith adopted, and a 10-year-old foster child whom they expect to remain with them until he reaches adulthood. There also are two cats, a dog and two hermit crabs.
The family maintains a strict routine in other areas, as well. Children open their backpacks every afternoon when they come home so the dads can inspect for homework. Homework is done promptly. The family shares dinner every night, no excuses. Quiet time after dinner and before bed. Lights out at 8:30, except on the weekend.
''We were a family going into this,'' Skahen said. ``We're just more of a solidified family now.''
It's a bit problematic because this decision didn't overturn the ban, but it's something.
Two months after the foster child came to live in Wayne LaRue Smith's two-story Key West home, the brown-eyed 5-year-old boy looked up from the kitchen table and, in a plaintive voice, asked what seemed a simple question.
``Will you be my daddy?''
At first, Smith, a foster father who has cared for 33 children in state custody, could not say yes.
Smith, who is openly gay, could raise other people's children. But in Florida, the only state that outright bans all gay people from adopting, he could never adopt a child of his own.
Until now.
.........
''Chief among the interests served by Florida's adoption law is the best interest of Florida children,'' Assistant Attorney General Valerie J. Martin has written. ``Can it be seriously contended that an arguably rational basis does not exist for placing adoptive children in the mainstream of American family life?''
The state did not defend the ban, however, in Audlin's court.
In a strongly worded 67-page order signed Aug. 29, Audlin wrote that Florida's 1977 gay adoption ban arose out of ''unveiled expressions of bigotry'' when the state was experiencing a severe backlash to demands for civil rights by gay people in Miami.
''Disqualifying every gay Floridian from raising a family, enjoying grandchildren or carrying on the family name, based on nothing more than lawful sexual conduct, while assuring child abusers, terrorists, drug dealers, rapists and murderers at least individualized consideration,'' Audlin wrote, was so ''disproportionately severe'' that it violates the state and U.S. constitutions.
...
Smith and Skahen were, in most respects, model foster parents, state records showed.
''The applicant is seen as nurturing, stable and devoted,'' a social worker's home study concluded. ``As an individual, he is considered to hold high moral character and is known to be gentle and patient.''
...
Smith and Skahen now are raising the 12-year-old boy Smith adopted, and a 10-year-old foster child whom they expect to remain with them until he reaches adulthood. There also are two cats, a dog and two hermit crabs.
The family maintains a strict routine in other areas, as well. Children open their backpacks every afternoon when they come home so the dads can inspect for homework. Homework is done promptly. The family shares dinner every night, no excuses. Quiet time after dinner and before bed. Lights out at 8:30, except on the weekend.
''We were a family going into this,'' Skahen said. ``We're just more of a solidified family now.''
It's a bit problematic because this decision didn't overturn the ban, but it's something.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-24 05:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-09-24 07:01 pm (UTC)