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SCOTUS
rules in favor of lesbian adoption and visitation rights, a ruling that extends equal rights to same-sex couples. Photo: Shannon McGee | FlickrCC. |
The United States Supreme Court
unanimously
reversed an Alabama State Supreme Court decision, which refused to
recognize a same-sex adoption. An adoption certified by Georgia allowed a woman
identified as V.L. to adopt three children.
Her partner, identified as E.L.,
gave birth to the children while the couple was together. A Georgia court
granted V.L. visitation rights after the couple separated, which Alabama ruled
was a mistake.
The United
States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has since ruled that one state cannot “disregard
the judgment of a sister state because it disagrees with the reasoning
underlying the judgment” meaning that Alabama, at least in this case, cannot
void the decisions of Georgia.
The ruling could have a big
impact on one of the legal questions that has arisen following the SCOTUS
decision to legalize same-sex marriage across the board: can same-sex couple be
denied adoption rights? The obvious answer would seem to be no, they cannot,
but that isn’t the case in a number of states.
While 30 states have allowed
same-sex adoptions, most have done so without actively embracing the practice,
making them somewhat uncommon. To date, the Williams Institute at UCLA
estimates that there are about 65,000 children who have been adopted by a
lesbian or gay parent.
This ruling could establish a
precedent to protect adoptive families moving across state borders, preventing
homophobic lawmakers from breaking up families. It could be a step in the right
direction toward challenging laws that prevent same-sex adoptions in other
states. Such a precedent could lay the foundation for a nationwide rejection of
such bans, allowing same-sex couples to adopt anywhere.
Immediately though, this ruling
at least protects adoptive families in Alabama which have moved there since
adopting in other states, which is a start, and will go a long way toward
ensuring that such families can stay together.
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