Arkansas Supreme Court Strikes Gay Foster Parent/Adoption Ban

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 6/29/06 at 6:11pm

Good news from the South.

"In a unanimous decision and sweeping decision, the Arkansas Supreme Court today struck down a regulation that banned lesbian and gay people from serving as foster parents.

The decision ends a seven-year legal battle between the state and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Pointing to the findings of a lower court that overturned the ban, the Court criticized the Child Welfare Agency Review Board’s reasons for enacting the regulation, writing, “These facts demonstrate that there is no correlation between the health, welfare, and safety of foster children and the blanket exclusion of any individual who is a homosexual or who resides in a household with a homosexual.”

The court found that there was no validity to the arguments made by opponents of gay adoption, noting that: Children of lesbian and gay parents are just as well-adjusted as children of heterosexual parents; Being raised by gay parents doesn’t increase the risk of psychological, behavioral, academic, gender identity, or any other sort of adjustment problems; Being raised by gay parents doesn’t prevent children from forming healthy relationships with their peers and others; There is no factual basis for saying that gay parents might be less able to guide their children through adolescence than heterosexual parents; There is no evidence that gay people, as a group, are more likely to engage in domestic violence or sexual abuse than heterosexual people; The exclusion of gay people and people with gay family members may be harmful to children because it excludes a pool of effective foster parents."

Must be those activist judges in the South trying to impose their moral values on us all.


Arkansas high court unanimously rejects gay adoption ban

[Fiction Writer]

Posted: 6/29/06 at 6:40pm

WOO HOO!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/29/06 at 6:51pm

Again, when and from where you least expect it. Happy Independence Day and may the Bush/Cheney Reign of Terror end soon!

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/29/06 at 7:55pm

To be fair to Arkansas, it is the home state of Bill Clinton.

[guitargeek0624]

Posted: 6/29/06 at 8:38pm

"may the Bush/Cheney Reign of Terror end soon!"

Only for now!
Sex!
Is only for now!
Your hair!
Is only for now!
GEORGE BUSH!
Is only for now!

Every time I hear that part of the song, I feel a little hopeful inside...2008 can't come any sooner.

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 6/29/06 at 10:58pm

Good for you Arkansas!! I hope other states ::cough::Florida::cough:: will soon follow suit.

[SweetQintheLights]

Posted: 6/29/06 at 10:59pm

colleen- you live in Florida?

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 6/29/06 at 11:06pm

No.