Preventing parenting: a federal judge upholds Florida's ban on adoptions by gays.

Although Steven Lofton and Roger Croteau of Miami have been the only fathers three foster children have known over the past 10 years, it may be a while before the gay couple can make a legal claim to the paternal title. That's because a federal judge ruled August 30 that a 1977 Florida law barring gay and lesbian individuals from adopting children is indeed constitutional.

Judge James Lawrence King ruled that the plaintiffs--Lofton and foster son John Doe; Douglas E. Houghton and foster son John Roe; and partners Wayne Smith and Daniel Skahen--had "not asserted that they can demonstrate that homosexual families are equivalently stable, are able to provide proper gender identification, [and] are no more socially stigmatizing than married heterosexual families." King also said that a "child's best interest is to be raised in a home stabilized by ... a mother and a father."

Such arguments seem to fly in the face of most experts' findings on the issue of gay parenting and adoption. In fact, the American Psychological Association states, "Not a single study has found children of gay or lesbian parents to be disadvantaged in any significant respect relative to children of heterosexual parents." Even the state of Florida itself seems out of step. Only two other states, Mississippi and Utah, have specific bans on adoption by gays and lesbians. Perhaps recognizing this, King discounted the state's argument that the law is legitimate because it reflects the state's disapproval of homosexuality. "The court cannot accept that moral disapproval of homosexuals or homosexuality serves a legitimate state interest," he wrote.

But that offers little solace to Lofton and Croteau and the other plaintiffs, who, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, plan to file a motion for reconsideration. "It's important to remember that this decision came out of a federal court in Key West in the year 2001," said Eric Ferrero, a spokesman for the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. "That is a strong statement that homophobia is alive and well."