Federal judge blocks 'unconstitutional' Mississippi adoption ban

Today a federal judge blocked a Mississippi ban on same-sex couples adopting children.

The New Civil Rights reports U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III, citing the Supreme Court's Obergefell decision, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and barred the Mississippi Department of Human Services and its director from enforcing that ban.

Judge Jordan wrote that it seems "highly unlikely that the same court that held a state cannot ban gay marriage because it would deny benefits—expressly including the right to adopt—would then conclude that married gay couples can be denied that very same benefit."

The ruling comes amid other state challenges to same-sex adoption. In March, The Gayly reported on the failure of Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern’s bill HB 2428 that would have prevented the state from refusing to contract with a child welfare provider if that provider would decline to “provide, facilitate or refer for a child welfare service that conflicts… with the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs…”

The Supreme Court ruling “foreclosed litigation over laws interfering with the right to marry and rights and responsibilities intertwined with marriage,” Jordan wrote, according to The Huffington Post. “It also seems highly unlikely that the same court that held a state cannot ban gay marriage because it would deny benefits — expressly including the right to adopt — would then conclude that married gay couples can be denied that very same benefit.” 

“Two sets of our clients have waited many (almost 9 and 16) years to become legal parents to the children they have loved and cared for since birth,” Roberta Kaplan, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “We hope that it should finally be clear that discrimination against gay people simply because they are gay violates the Constitution in all 50 states, including Mississippi.” 

The Human Rights Campaign’s Mississippi state director Rob Hill also praised the ruling. 

“This welcome decision affirms that qualified same-sex couples in Mississippi seeking to become adoptive or foster parents are entitled to equal treatment under the law, and commits to the well-being of children in our state who need loving homes,” he said in a statement. “Judge Jordan has repudiated reprehensible efforts by our elected leaders to deny legal rights to our families. They are on the wrong side of history, and today’s decision confirms, yet again, that they are also on the wrong side of the law.”

The New Civil Rights and The Huffington Post contributed to this report.

The Gayly- 4/1/2016 @ 10:29 AM CDT