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Mississippi Prepares to Ban
Adoptions by Gay Men & Lesbians

Will Forbid State from
Recognizing Legal Adoptions Elsewhere

ACLU Vows a Legal Fight
against 'Unconstitutional' Legislation

Compiled by GayToday

Jackson, Mississippi -- The Mississippi House Judiciary Committee passed an unprecedented bill Tuesday that would severely curtail the number of children who can move from foster care into permanent, loving adoptive homes, the American Civil Liberties Union's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project warned today.

The bill would ban gay and lesbian couples from adopting children, and -- in a sweeping provision which goes further than any other state that has considered such legislation--it would also forbid the state of Mississippi from recognizing legal adoptions that have previously been granted by courts in other states, a violation of the "Full Faith and Credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution.

"This legislation is unconstitutional, and we believe that if it is passed by Mississippi's full legislature and signed into law, a federal court will strike it down," said Matthew Coles, Director of the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.

The ACLU of Mississippi has led efforts to defeat the anti-adoption bill. "There are for more pressing issues facing children and families in Mississippi," said David Ingebretsen, Executive Director of the ACLU of Mississippi.

"We're last or near last in the nation in the number of children living in poverty, the percentage of pregnant women without prenatal care and the number of children lacking health insurance. Our representatives need to be lifting families and children up -- not debating divisive, discriminatory, unconstitutional legislation."

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The ACLU vowed to continue fighting the bill, in coalition with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and other fair-minded groups with a strong grassroots presence in Mississippi.

"The goal of adoption is to make sure that the child has a permanent home with people who have the skills to be good parents," said NGLTF Executive Director Kerry Lobel.

"The issue of adoption is best decided by judges and professionals on a case-by-case basis, not by politicians or the government. If the anti-adoption bill passes, it will result in Mississippi children who are desperately seeking placement in loving families, including committed gay and lesbian couples, being denied permanent homes. This legislation is not just an attack on gay and lesbian people. It's an attack on children."

There are an estimated 500,000 children in foster care, and 100,000 of these children are awaiting adoption. But in 1997, the last year for which statistics are available, there were qualified adoptive parents for only 20,000 of these children.

Consideration of the Mississippi bill comes at a time when the number of gay and lesbian families is steadily increasing. A recent study conducted by the American Psychological Association noted that "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" and concluded that "home environments provided by gay and lesbian parents are as likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to support and enable children's psychosocial growth."