Gays and Lesbians Can Now Adopt in Florida

Florida is no longer the only state to forbid gays and lesbians to adopt children. A ruling in October 2010 overturned Florida's ban on gay adoption. For years Florida allowed gays and lesbians to be foster parents, but would not allow them to adopt.

Frank Martin Gill is a gay Florida man who with his partner was raising two brothers as a foster parents for six years. They sued for the right to adopt the boys.

He will now be able to do so.

The law has been on the books for 33 years and the American Civil Liberties Union has been fighting for the right for same-sex couples to adopt children for 18 years.

"This law, by baselessly branding gay people unfit parents, was one of the most notorious anti-gay laws in the country, and we are delighted that it has been ended once and for all," said Leslie Cooper, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU LGBT Project, who argued the case before Florida's Third District Court of Appeal. "This victory means that the thousands of children in Florida who are waiting to be adopted will no longer be needlessly deprived of willing and able parents who can give them the love and support of a family."