A 1977 Florida state law that bans gay individuals from adopting has received its biggest challenge thus far: Foster father Frank Martin Gill won his suit to adopt two brothers he has been fostering since 2004.

In her decision this morning, Miami Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled that there was no “rational basis” to prevent the children from being adopted. The case, which marks the first time that a gay adoption case has been taken before a trial court in Florida, seems likely to go before the Florida Supreme Court, which could overturn the ban.

…Florida is the only state that prohibits gay individuals from adopting. But it allows them to be foster parents. That means that when Gill wanted to adopt the two boys he’d fostered for four years, ages 4 and 8, he couldn’t, leaving the brothers as official wards of the state.
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… Over the course of the four-day trial, experts called by both sides presented evidence about how children of gay parents fare. The state’s defenders argued that gay people are more prone to a host of problems, ranging from alcohol and drug abuse to depression. Experts on the other side testified that while gays as a group do struggle more with particular issues, so do other demographic groups—but they’re not banned from adoption, because adoption is meant to be decided on a case-by-case basis, rather than with group generalizations. Meanwhile, no credible scientific study has shown that the children of gay parents are at more of a disadvantage than the children of straight parents, they said.
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There’s no knowing yet what the appellate court will do. But as it usually gives deference to the factual findings of the trial court, gay adoption supporters are feeling optimistic—both that the Gill family will find closure and that the Florida law will, after 31 years, be overturned.

Florida is bizarre in that it has a very large gay population but, unlike California (at least until Prop 8), has been openly hostile toward gays since well before Anita Bryant brought her particular nastiness to the fight.

Kudos to Mr. Gill for his perseverance on behalf of his kids and kids across the state, and in places like Arkansas, who could find good homes with gay parents but are kept from that happiness by small-minded, fearful bigots.

And thank you for pushing my home state into the 21st Century.