“We are preparing now for an assault.”
It probably would not surprise you if I told you that those words were back in 1977 when Anita Bryant and her disciples targeted the LGBT community with an unrelenting hatred and bigotry that resulted in the passage of Florida’s notorious ban that prohibiting gays from adopting.
Catch your breath—those words were spoken last month by ACLU Florida Executive Director Howard Simon, in an interview with the Miami Herald in the wake of some very scary developments that threaten to re-ignite the war over Florida’s adoption ban. You thought that battle was won? Think again.
There are very powerful forces at work that have the intent and the resources to revive the adoption ban and bring a screeching halt to all those joyous adoptions taking place across Florida right now.
Mathew Staver, of the infamous Liberty Counsel—recently profiled in a national report on anti-gay hate groups—announced that he will ask the Florida Legislature to pass another law to prohibit adoption by gays and lesbians. Florida’s new Governor, Rick Scott, removed former DCF Chief George Sheldon (who opposed the adoption ban) and replaced him with David Wilkins, a leader of a Baptist social agency which only allows adoptions by people who “follow a lifestyle that is consistent with the Christian faith,” and reiterated his position (consistent with his new DCF Chief) that gays should not be allowed to adopt—or foster—children.
Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon and Florida Senate Leader Mike Haridopolos have both stated that if the Governor does not enforce the ban then the Legislature is “certainly prepared and willing to do so.” Martin Gill, the courageous man who challenged the ban in order to adopt two young brothers he had fostered for five years, had literally just finalized his adoptions in January when these homophobes started spewing their threats.
The ACLU won a huge victory by successfully suing to overturn Florida’s adoption ban and declaring it as unconstitutional. That was a very big win, but it is not necessarily permanent. Despite the Third District Court of Appeal ruling overturning the ban in September, the new governor could instruct his new DCF Chief to refuse to allow adoptions by gays in the geographic districts not covered by the Third District Court of Appeal, thus potentially prompting renewed court battles over the existing ban.
The Florida Legislature, with its overwhelming Republican majorities, could enact a new ban slightly different from the existing ban, thus prompting new legal challenges, or it could approve a proposed constitutional amendment to ban adoption by gays which would appear on the 2012 ballot.
Or, the politicians could sit back and let Staver do the dirty work for them. Staver, who is responsible for writing and advocating Amendment 2, the state constitutional amendment that outlawed marriage equality, could gear up again and get the necessary signatures on a petition to constitutionally ban adoption by gays. It would be déjà vu all over again, just like Amendment 2 in 2008, in the 2012 presidential year election.
So, as we settle into 2011, you may be feeling pretty good about the progress our community has made in the march for equality, from the local Orange County Human Rights Ordinance passed last November to the historic repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Holy cow, Orange County just elected a new Republican Mayor who has reached out to the local LGBT community and vowed to enact domestic partner benefits for Orange County employees. All good news, yes, but there really is no time to rest or celebrate. The road is long and the enemy is unrelenting, and we must keep marching. All of us, together.
Our community responded in spectacular fashion in the fight to pass the HRO, standing up and raising our voices to demand the legal protections we need and deserve. Now all of our voices are needed again to help Mayor Jacobs pass domestic partner benefits in the next few weeks. All of our voices are needed to defend and protect the rights of Florida’s children to be adopted into forever homes. And all of our voices are needed to speak out against bigotry directed at our community—even, and especially, when it comes from the Governor’s mansion. Don’t wait for an organization or “others” to speak for you, they can’t. When the call comes, answer!
Your voice matters—please use it.
