Lofton has reportedly petitioned the U.S. Supreme court for review. If accepted, I predict the equal protection claim will be a very close call. Did the statute result from a misguided legislature (thus leaving it constitutional), or did it represent enough "animus" toward homosexuals to justify the use of the courts and judicial power? If the Court upholds the statute, what will that imply re gay marriage? Though the rationality for prohibiting homosexuals from marrying does seem weaker than the rationale for prohibiting homosexuals from adopting, given that children are not involved per se in a marriage. If the Florida adoption statute falls, it will likely do so on some animus theory of rationality, evident from looking at several relevant statutes together.
An editor of a magazine targeted for homosexuals here in Columbus, Ohio, tells me that most of their subscribers, and other homosexuals, are in traditional, opposite-sex marriages Is that likely true in Florida and elsewhere? Essentially, in Florida, "closet gays" can adopt regardless of marital status, but "open gays" cannot adopt regardless of marital status. Where is the rationality in that? Can an adoption be nullified (by a birth parent, child, or agency) where the state later discovers the adoptive parent was/is homosexual or bisexual? The world simply is not as black and white as the Florida legislature and the Federal Court want to believe But does that make Florida's gay-adoption ban unconstitutional?
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