Gay adoption laws vary from state to state.
Gay adoption laws vary from state to state. While Florida expressly bans gay and lesbian people from adopting children, most other states simply have no clear law against gay adoption. Gay adoption usually happens when an individual person adopts a child. Other issues, such as when a partner in a same-sex relationship has legal claim to adopt their partner's biological children, can be ambiguous or undefined in many areas of the country.
Adoption by Gay Individuals
Florida is the only state in the United States that expressly prohibits an individual to adopt children based exclusively on the applicant's sexual orientation. According to FLA. STAT. § 63.042(3), no homosexual person may adopt children. In 2000, Utah passed legislation to prohibit any unmarried person from adopting children. As gay marriage is not permitted in the state, this included a de facto prohibition against gay and lesbian people. In the rest of the states of the union, single gay and lesbian people may petition to adopt children, as a single adoption; that is, without any other person becoming the legal guardian.
Biological Children of Same-Sex Couples
When a child is biologically born to a gay couple, the non-biological parent generally has no legal rights to the child. Exceptions to this rule are states that allow for civil unions and also allow for streamline adoptions by non-biological parents. These states include California, Connecticut, Illinois, Vermont, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. Florida prohibits a person to adopt their same-sex partner's biological children, as it prohibits any gay adoption. Nebraska, Wisconsin and Ohio officially bar a person to adopt their same-sex partner's biological child, unless the biological parent defers their legal parental rights to the child. Utah bars adoption by an unmarried person residing with another person, if they are engaged in a sexual relationship. As all gay and lesbian couples are unmarried according to the state, this includes gay and lesbian couples.
Adoption by Same-Sex Couples
Most states have no specific prohibition against same-sex couples adopting children. The exceptions being Florida, which discriminates in adoption laws against all gay and lesbian people, and Utah, which allows for adoption only by married heterosexual couples. Mississippi also passed MISS. CODE ANN. § 93-17-3., which prohibits same-sex couples from adopting children. North Carolina denies gay and lesbian parents adoption privileges, as it allows no two people to file jointly for adoption if they are unmarried, which, according to North Carolina law, includes all gay and lesbian couples. States and regions which explicitly allow for adoption by same-sex couples include California, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Vermont.
Gay Adoption Worldwide
Each country has varying laws about gay adoption. The Mexican Supreme Court upheld gay adoption rights in Mexico City in 2010. Furthermore, gay adoption is legal in many regions of Canada, many countries of Europe, Australia, Israel and South Africa. While many countries allow for gay adoption, others do not even allow two adults to engage in a consensual gay relationship, let alone guarantee them adoption rights. Often, homosexual acts in these countries are punishable by deaths. Among the harshest in this area are Iran, Saudi Arabia, Uganda and Cameroon.
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