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Loading ...Suit to proceed against Arkansas adoption ban
03.18.2009 9:17am EDT
(Little Rock, Arkansas) An Arkansas judge ruled that a lawsuit challenging a law banning unmarried couples from becoming adoptive or foster parents can move forward.
In a hearing Tuesday on the state application to dismiss the lawsuit, Arkansas Deputy Attorney General Justin Allen argued that no one has a basic right to to adopt or be adopted.Allen claimed that because intrinsic rights are not involved, the lawsuit cannot be challenged on constitutional grounds.
The ACLU disputed the claim and said the lawsuit should be allowed to continue, arguing that the law violates the federal and state constitutional rights to equal protection and due process.
The law’s ban affects both same-sex couples already prevented from marrying in Arkansas and opposite-sex couples who live together but are not married.
In its argument, the ACLU said that the law is particularly harsh for same-sex couples.
“With respect to gay and lesbian cohabiting couples, there is no rational relationship between Act 1 and promoting marriage because same-sex couples are legally precluded from marrying under Arkansas law,” the ACLU said in its suit. “Thus, there is no incentive to marry that could possibly result in gay couples marrying in the state.”
Allen disagreed, saying that the state regularly removes children from a biological parent when that parent is living with another adult and they are not married. Allen said the law is applied evenly to unmarried opposite-sex couples and to same-sex couples.
Among the couples involved in the lawsuit are Stephanie Huffman, who already adopted one child from the state in 2004 and her partner of 10 years, Wendy Rickman.
They want to adopt another child or a pair of siblings through the Department of Children and Family Services, but can’t because of the ban, which went into effect January 1.
Since Arkansas (along with the rest of the Bible Belt) continues to have the highest heterosexual divorce rate in the nation,
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_dira.htm
it is both unrealistic and cruel to insist that children be raised in heterosexual married two-parent homes.
There simply aren’t enough to go around, never mind the civil rights and social justice issues (which I don’t discount for a MINUTE, BTW).
If they want to “save” the heterosexual Ozzie and Harriet” family of a mother, a father, and 2.5 kids, then let them outlaw HETEROSEXUAL DIVORCE.
Of course, NO Evangelical “kristianist” will support THAT.
They’re far too fond of their serial (and sometimes not-so-serial) adulteries, kinks, crystal meth, Big Hair For Jeeeeeee-zus, gold-leaf Louis XIV furniture, makeup applied with a trowel, atrocious music, polyester …
Oops, sorry! Got off on a little tangent there .
But they really ARE *ridiculous*.
“Allen disagreed, saying that the state regularly removes children from a biological parent when that parent is living with another adult and they are not married.”
You have GOT to be kidding me. How sick and twisted is this? This is pro-family?? To remove children from one of his/her BIOLOGICAL parents because that parent is MARRIED? That’s grounds for taking a child away from his/her parent?? Gay rights aside, this right here just makes my blood boil.