Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Florida’s Ban on Gay Adoptions Ends

Filed under: GLBT Social Issues and Civil Rights — Dr. Christopher Blackwell @ 02:07

 As a Doctoral Student in Public Affairs, one of the early research projects I decided to complete in my studies was a Cost/ Benefit Analysis on Florida’s Ban on Gay Adoptions. I was able to show, through the process of policy analysis, that the ban was costing Floridians millions of dollars in taxes and that the social science research done on the topic indicated gay men and lesbians were actually very good parents. In fact, no published studies undergoing a rigorous scientific peer-review process have ever existed to the contrary. Of course, when a federal appeals court ruled several weeks ago that the ban was unconstitutional, I was ecstatic. But when Governor Charlie Crist promised he would not appeal the decision, I immediately endorsed him for Senator.

Today, the ban has come to an end. George Sheldon, the Director for Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) held a press conference to indicate that DCF will no longer ascertain the sexual orientation of prospective adoptive parents. Equality Florida applauded the move, but cautioned that discriminatory forces are still at play. Their press release stated, “The same anti-gay forces who pushed for Florida’s marriage amendment in 2008 will likely try to put a return of the adoption ban up for statewide vote in 2012.” To read my Cost/Benefit Analysis on Florida’s Ban on Gay Adoptions, click on the “Research” tab. The document is filed under “Unpublished Research Reports.”

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