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Lesbian Gay Rights : Parenting : Press Releases

ACLU Files Discrimination Lawsuit on Behalf of Lesbian Couple Treated Unfairly by CA Adoption Agency (05/01/2003)
LOS ANGELES--The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California together with the ACLU of San Diego today filed a lawsuit against an Orange County adoption agency for discriminating against a lesbian couple who sought to adopt children currently under foster care.

ACLU Argues Case Challenging Florida's Gay Adoption Ban (03/04/2003)
MIAMI - Arguing today in a landmark case before a federal appeals court, the American Civil Liberties Union urged the justices to strike down as unconstitutional a Florida law that prohibits all gay people from adopting children.

Arkansas Court Asked to End Gay Foster Parenting Ban (08/20/2002)
LITTLE ROCK, AR -- Saying that a state ban on lesbian and gay foster parenting does nothing to help children in need and is based only on bias and stereotypes, the ACLU filed papers today asking a judge to strike down the ban once and for all.

Florida Trying To Muzzle Children's Advocates Who Contend Gay Adoption Ban 'Hurts' Kids, ACLU Says (04/18/2002)
ATLANTA - The state of Florida is trying to silence some of the nation's leading children's advocates who want a federal appeals court to overturn the state's embattled ban on gay adoption, the American Civil Liberties Union said as lawyers filed papers today opposing the state's effort.

Child Welfare, Civil Rights Advocates Call on State Officials To Keep Family at Center of Gay Adoption Battle Together (03/14/2002)
MIAMI - With the state threatening to take a 10-year-old boy from the only family he's ever known, child welfare and civil rights advocates today called on the governor and the state's top children's policy official to stop the harm caused by Florida's gay adoption ban. 

ACLU Launches Special Web Site To Fight Florida's Gay Adoption Ban, Protect Families (03/13/2002)
NEW YORK -- Saying that Florida's gay adoption ban threatens to take a 10-year old boy from the family he's been with since he was nine weeks old, the ACLU Lesbian & Gay Rights Project this week launched www.LetHimStay.com. 

'We Were Wrong,' Say Former Legislators Who Voted For Florida Gay Adoption Ban Nearly 25 Years Ago (03/07/2002)
MIAMI - Florida's ban on gay adoption -- already facing increasing scrutiny -- is under fire today from several of the former state legislators who helped pass the law nearly 25 years ago. 

Mainstream Children's Groups 'Unequivocally' Urge Appeals Court to Overturn Florida Gay Adoption Ban (02/20/2002)
ATLANTA - Some of the nation's largest, oldest and most respected children's groups today told a federal appeals court that Florida's law banning gay adoption hurts kids, in a brief filed in support of the American Civil Liberties Union's lawsuit challenging the adoption ban. 

Landmark ACLU Case Challenging Florida's Gay Adoption Ban Reaches Federal Appeals Court (02/14/2002)
ATLANTA - For the first time ever, a federal appeals court is weighing the constitutionality of banning gay adoption, in the American Civil Liberties Union's case against Florida's law prohibiting all gay people from adopting children. 

Civil Rights Groups Denounce Ruling in Second-Parent Adoption Case; Saying Decision Could Harm Thousands of Children (10/26/2001)
SAN DIEGO-- A state appeals court here has released an extreme and unprecedented decision which the American Civil Liberties Union of San Diego today said could have severe consequences for thousands of children adopted by the same sex partners of their lesbian and gay parents. 

ACLU "Deeply Disappointed" by Court Decision Dismissing Challenge of Law Banning Gay Adoption Statement of Matt Coles, Director, ACLU Lesbian & Gay Rights Project (08/30/2001)
MIAMI--Today, a federal judge in Miami dismissed the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian & Gay Rights Project's lawsuit challenging a Florida law which prohibits children from being adopted by lesbians and gay men. 

ACLU Fights Florida's Gay Adoption Ban (06/04/2001)
MIAMI -- Florida's 1977 law prohibiting adoption by any lesbian or gay man is the toughest anti-homosexual adoption measure in the country, the Associated Press reported. 

U.S. Supreme Court Declines Lesbian 'De-Facto Parent' Case, Letting Landmark Gay Family Decision Stand (10/10/2000)
WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Supreme Court announced this morning that it will not hear a challenge to whether the former partner of a lesbian mother is entitled to visitation with the twins she helped raise since birth. At issue was a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling in April that the non-biological mother maintains legal rights after breaking up with the biological mother.

Drop in Adoptions Costs Florida $2.6 Million in Federal Funds; ACLU Vows to Overturn Ban on Gay Adoptions (09/26/2000)
TALLAHASSEE, FL - New information reveals that Florida's state law prohibiting lesbians and gay men from adopting not only harms children but also will cost the state millions of dollars in federal funds, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which has a federal lawsuit underway to overturn the adoption ban.

New York Court Grants Lesbian Visitation (07/11/2000)
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.-- A lesbian who helped raise her ex-lover's two children has been granted temporary visitation in a ruling believed to be the first of its kind in New York, the Associated Press reported.

U.S. Supreme Court Limits Government Ability to Interfere with Parents' Child-Rearing Decisions (06/05/2000)
WASHINGTON -- Recognizing the evolving nature of families, the U.S. Supreme Court today described a Washington state law that allows any person to go to court at any time to seek visitation with someone else's children as "breathtakingly broad," and struck down a visitation order issued under the statute.

Georgia Judge Orders Lesbian Mother to Leave Home and Children; ACLU Vows Fight (04/21/2000)
ATLANTA, GA -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia has filed an appeal in the State Supreme Court on behalf of a mother who is being held in "willful contempt" by a local judge based solely on her shared residence with her same-sex partner.

New Jersey Supreme Court Grants Visitation to Former Partner of Lesbian Mom, Establishes "Psychological Parenthood" (04/06/2000)
The historic decision legally recognizes the important child-parent relationships that gay men and lesbians form with the children they raise. The American Civil Liberties Union argued the case as a friend-of-the-court in October. 

Unconstitutional Gay Adoption Ban Dies in Mississippi, Local Advocates Attribute Victory to Deluge of Support (03/16/2000)
JACKSON, MS -- In a victory for children in Mississippi and beyond, an unprecedented anti-adoption bill died in the Mississippi State House this afternoon. There is no way the bill can be revived this year.

Mississippians to 'Phone Home for Families,' Encouraging Legislature to Kill Bill that Would Hurt Children (03/09/2000)
JACKSON, MS--Taking a stand for children throughout Mississippi, a coalition of fair-minded groups today launched a "Phone Home for Families" campaign to defeat a proposed statewide bill that would ban lesbians and gay men from adopting and prevent such adoptions in other states from being recognized in Mississippi.

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