TALLAHASSEE – Gov. Rick Scott signed the Adoption and Foster Care bill (HB7013) into law June 11 effectively removing the language that bans gays from adopting in the state of Florida.
This was a smaller part of a larger adoption bill that will provide incentive payments to community-based care groups.
The bill caused friction in the State House earlier this year leading Rep. Jason Brodeur (Sanford-R) to introduce a bill that would allow adoption agencies to deny same-sex couples from adopting based on religious or moral convictions.
The anti-gay adoption bill made it through the House but died in Senate committee.
Equality Florida took to social media to make the announcement and express their excitement after Scott signed the bill into law.
BREAKING: @FLGovScott has signed #HB7013 meaning the unconstitutional gay adoption ban has officially been repealed from state law! #eqfl
— Equality Florida (@equalityfl) June 11, 2015
The law officially ends the restriction on same-sex adoption that was started in 1977 after the anti-gay “Save Our Children” campaign by Anita Bryant.
A circuit appeals court upheld the ban in 2004, but a state appeals court struck it down in 2010 and gay people in Florida have been successfully adopting since then.
The new law will take effect July 1.
