Vanessa Alenier and Melanie Leon with their adopted 1-year-old son Miami Herald photo by Barbara P. Fernandez

For the third time in just over a year a Florida judge has approved an adoption by a gay or lesbian couple, ruling that the state’s outright ban on adoptions by such couples is “unconstitutional on its face”, Miami Herald reports.

A state appeals court is now reviewing an appeal of an earlier ruling that the ban is unconstitutional, but—as Herald reporter Carol Marbin Miller writes, the latest ruling “suggests some state court judges already have made up their minds about gay adoption, a thorny political issue in a state with a significant social conservative streak.”

Shortly after the child’s birth on Jan. 14, 2009, and with the approval of their extended family, Vanessa Alenier and Melanie Leon took custody of an infant relative who had been seized by child welfare workers.

“We knew we wanted to be parents, both of us,” Alenier told the Herald. The infant “was a family member. We couldn’t say no. We strongly wanted to be a family.

“It’s the most amazing thing that ever happened to us,” Alenier said. “It’s changed our lives.”

With little publicity, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Maria Sampedro-Iglesia approved the adoption in an order signed earlier this month. The Herald this week obtained a copy of the order.

“The child is happy and thriving with [Alenier]. The only way to give this child permanency … is to allow him to be adopted” by her, Sampedo-Iglesia wrote in her order.

A third Florida judge rules against ban on adoption by gay parents [contd.]

“There is no rational connection between sexual orientation and what is or is not in the best interest of a child,” the judge wrote.

The judge said Alenier “is a fit and proper person to adopt the child and has adequate resources and facilities to care for the child.”

Alenier told the Herald that she knew an adoption would become difficult if she truthfully answered a question on the adoption form, “Are you gay?”

She answered truthfully despite Florida’s ban, which was passed in 1977 during the state’s anti-gay campaigns that were led by former beauty queen Anita Bryant.

Aleniar told the Herald that she did not want to begin her journey as a parent with a lie.

“We knew it would be very hard to adopt him, and it has been a hard struggle,” Leon told the Herald.

An attorney for the couple, Alan Mishael, told the Herald that the state Department of Children and Families (DCF), which oversees adoptions, delayed its consideration of Aleniar’s adoption petition for months. Mishael said DCF appeared to be  trying to “run down the clock” while the Miami appeals court reviewed the law. “They wanted to sweep the problem under the rug,” Mishael said.

After finally hearing testimony in the case, Sampedo-Iglasia wrote this month, “The permanent interests and benefit to all members of the adoptive household will be promoted by the adoption.”

In September, 2008, a trial judge in Key West allowed a gay man to adopt the child he had raised as a foster parent. The judge called the state’s adoption ban “contrary to every child welfare principle”.

That case was not appealed, but a month later a judge in North Miami heard extensive arguments on an adoption petition filed by Martin Gill. Miami Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ruled the ban unconstitutional and ordered that Gill would be able to adopt two brothers that he and his partner had been raising as foster parents.

DCF appealed Lederman’s ruling. The appeal is under review, with a decision expected soon.