New Mischief on Florida Gay Adoption

BY PAUL SCHINDLER  -

Despite a state appellate panel’s ruling last year striking down the Florida ban on adoption by “homosexual” people and the decision by the then-governor and attorney general — Republican-turned-Independent Charlie Crist and Republican Bill McCullom, respectively — that they would not pursue State Supreme Court review of the decision, the new governor, Republican Rick Scott, is stoking the fire that most had considered extinguished for good.

According to the Associated Press, when Scott appeared before reporters in Tallahassee on January 19 to discussed his newly appointed director of Children and Families, David Wilkins, he said, "Adoption should be by a married couple."

In response to Scott’s statement, Florida Together, an LGBT equality group, said, “Obviously, this is an end-run around the courts on gay and lesbian-inclusive adoption. It could remove millions of Floridians from the adoption process and leave tens of thousands of children in state foster care who could otherwise be adopted by loving families.”

The new governor’s position presumably aims to avoid any legal objections to barring gay and lesbian parents specifically by preventing any unmarried person — and by definition, every gay and lesbian person under Florida law — from adopting.

Scott’s appointee for the Children and Families post, Wilkins, is the finance chair of the Florida Baptist Children’s Homes, which Florida Together notes, is an “organization dedicated to providing Christ-centered services to children and families.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, which won last year’s court victory that struck down the adoption ban, has called a meeting for February 5 in Orlando to discuss a united response to the governor’s posture.

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