Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said Tuesday that, his own personal feelings aside, Florida law dealing with gay parenthood is inconsistent and should be the same for both adoptive and foster parents.
McCollum said he personally believes that heterosexual parents provide the best environment for a child. But he told reporters that he would await an appellate court ruling over whether openly gay people can adopt before weighing in further on whether gays should also be barred from serving as foster parents.
A controversial Florida law prohibits openly gay adults from adopting children, but is the subject of an ongoing court challenge. But gay adults are allowed to act as foster parents. McCollum said Tuesday that both groups should be treated the same.
The laws are inconsistent and there needs to be a review, McCollum said. My personal belief is that it is best to have parents who are a man and a woman to raise a child. Thats my view. I think that is by far preferable for the child.
McCollums comments Tuesday come a day after he was quoted by The Florida Baptist Witness, the newspaper of the Florida Baptist State Convention, as saying that Florida law should be changed to prevent gay men and lesbians from becoming foster parents.
I think that it would be advisable, McCollum is quoted as saying in the newspapers interview. I really do not think that we should have homosexuals guiding our children.
Florida is the only state that by law explicitly prohibits gay men and lesbians from adopting children, a law passed in 1977, following a campaign led by the entertainer Anita Bryant to repeal a gay rights ordinance adopted by Dade County.
Other states including Mississippi and Utah, though, effectively ban adoptions by same-sex couples through laws that prohibit unmarried couples from adopting.
Floridas adoption ban was thrown out in 2008 by a circuit court judge in Miami-Dade County who ruled that the best interests of children are not protected by prohibiting adoption by gay parents. As the states lawyer, McCollums office is handling the appeal of that ruling on behalf of the Department of Children and Families.The matter is currently before the 3rd District Court of Appeal.
