The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case challenging Florida's ban on gay couples adopting children. The state does allow gays to be foster parents.
The case was known as Lofton v. Secretary of the Florida Department of Children and Families. Talk show host Rosie O'Donnell brought it national attention when she went to bat for Steve Lofton, his partner Roger Crouteau, and their five kids. The couple wanted to adopt Bert, 10, who they had cared for as foster parents since his birth.
Observers were not surprised, as the Court declines to hear the vast majority of cases that are appealed to it. In action Jan. 10, it accepted no cases, remanded one back to a lower court, and declined to hear 469 appeals.
'The plain and well-understood purpose of the ban [ by Florida on gays adopting ] was to tell gay people to go back into the closet,' said Matt Coles in filing the appeal. He heads up the Lesbian and Gay Rights Project at the American Civil Liberties Union ( ACLU ) .
'This case deserved to be heard,' said Patricia Logue, a Chicago-based attorney with Lambda Legal, which filed a brief in support of the appeal. 'Florida's law keeps thousands of children in state care and out of permanent loving homes—solely because the state wants to express disapproval of gay people.'