Sometimes I forget how lucky Hilary and I are to be a family and to have been able to adopt Liam together as a couple. There are still places in the world that we cannot travel as a family because it would be dangerous to be seen in public as a lesbian family. Even closer to home, I have many friends who still cannot enjoy the same priviledges and safety that we do. My gay and lesbian American friends, for the most part, cannot get married, be on each other's health insurance or be considered equal parents to their children.
Florida is now appealing the judgment from a Miami-Dade judge declaring that Florida's 30+ year old law violated equal protection rights. It seems that the state of Florida believes that gay and lesbians just aren't healthy safe people to whom they should entrust the care of children (overlooking the fact that they allow gay and lesbian foster parents - it's only when the parenting becomes permanent that we somehow become a threat). The state plans to argue that we "have higher odds of suffering from depression, affective and anxiety disorders and substance abuse, and that their households are more unstable"*.
I can't wait to hear how they plan to prove that one.
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3 comments:
I am ashamed to be a Floridian at times like these.
We're not in Florida, thank goodness, but in a state where we can have only one legal same-sex parent in a same-sex couple. And let me tell you, I haven't felt depressed about being a lesbian but I've got some real, deep anxiety about parenting without legal protection! I'm just sayin'....
As a lesbian mom in Florida I can tell you that this hits really hard. I'm worried about whether or not I can get co-custody of the baby after he's born like we set up for DD in Ohio. Also, as much as I want to foster again, I don't know if I could stomach it knowing that there would be no chance of us every adopting a child that may live with us for years...I am closely watching this case too. I hope one day the US can make changes that allow gay and lesbian parents to actually become "full citizens" and give us the rights we are entitled to. Thanks for posting this blog entry.
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