Gay families go mainstream: reaction to a ruling in favor of gay adoption suggests that same-sex parents are winning hearts and minds. But is it too soon to declare victory? (Parenting).

The news out of Harrisburg, Pa., on August 20 was groundbreaking: The state supreme court ruled that gay men and lesbians can adopt their partners' children. Only eight states and the District of Columbia allow such second-parent adoptions. If the ruling were made a year ago, it likely would have made headlines across the country. But as it was, the story barely made a blip on the national radar. Perhaps having come only a few months after adoptive mother Rosie O'Donnell came out as a lesbian, gay parenting has become so mainstream that now it's only news when the courts take the kids away.

"The trend is turning in favor of gay families," said Lisa Bennett, head of FamilyNet, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's gay families project. "There's been incredible progress made this year. People are realizing that what the judge [in the Pennsylvania case] said is true--it's absurd to deny kids a loving home because both parents happen to be of the same sex."

The August 20 ruling stems from a combination of two cases. In the first, one of two women who have been together since 1983 sought to adopt twin boys born to the other. In the second case, one of two men partnered since 1982 sought to adopt a boy and a girl who had already been adopted by the other partner.

"Today's decision is a complete victory for these families and for hundreds, if not thousands, of families like them," said Susan Frietsche, a lawyer with the Women's Law Project, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case.

But if anyone assumes it's all pacifiers and roses once gay people become parents, a story out of Texas proves otherwise. La Kenna Green, 17, and Shanicola Green, 16, asked a judge to emancipate them from their lesbian mother, Kimla Green, because her sexual orientation clashed with their religious views. On August 20 a judge got the teenagers to drop their suit after their mother agreed not to "do anything" to embarrass them.

"All children have issues with their parents, and it's not going to be any different for gay parents," said Bennett, who said she is saddened by the Green case. "It's part of the experience of being in a family."