Federal Judge Strikes Down Oklahoma Law that Could Have Denied Children Their Parents

This news is so good and so relevant to LGBT families that I’m not saving it for my usual Friday political update:

A federal judge struck down Oklahoma’s Adoption Invalidation Law prohibiting Oklahoma from recognizing adoptions by same-sex couples from other states and countries. This was perhaps the most anti-LGBT-family law in the country, and could have led to parents suddenly losing their legal status as parents if they moved to or visited the state.

The tireless lawyers at Lambda Legal argued the case on behalf of several plaintiffs. The court upheld Lambda’s claims that the law violated the U. S. Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection and due process, and its Full Faith and Credit Clause.

This raises the question of whether these claims, which have been used unsuccessfully so far to get other states to recognize same-sex marriages from Massachusetts, will have any better luck in the future. I’m not a lawyer, so I won’t venture an answer. Regardless, the ruling is very good news for LGBT families living in or traveling through Oklahoma.

via Twitter, Facebook, Digg, e-mail, and more
3:12 pm Politics and Law

« Cordless Drill Review | Previous

Next | Lambda Literary Awards: Children’s/Young Adult Books »

3 Responses to “Federal Judge Strikes Down Oklahoma Law that Could Have Denied Children Their Parents”

1. 
   Mombian: Sustenance for Lesbian Moms » Blog Archive » Weekly Political Roundup
   on May 26th, 2006
   @ 4:56 pm: 

   [...] We won a major victory in Oklahoma, where judges struck down a ruling that would have denied recognition to same-sex adoptive parents even if the adoption was done legally in another state. [...]

2. 
   Mombian: Sustenance for Lesbian Moms » Blog Archive » Weekly Political Roundup
   on Oct 20th, 2006
   @ 6:19 pm: 

   [...] Lambda Legal argued that the U. S. Court of Appeals should affirm a lower court ruling that Oklahoma’s anti-gay Adoption Invalidation Law is unconstitutional. The law, one of the most restrictive in the country, said Oklahoma could not recognize an adoption by same-sex parents, even if done legally in another state or foreign jurisdiction. It was struck down by the lower court last May. [...]

3. 
   Offsprung > Mombian » Having Gay Parents Better than Being Abandoned, McCain Concedes
   on Jul 16th, 2008
   @ 2:26 pm: 

   [...] problem, of course, is that states must recognize adoptions by other states (although Oklahoma tried for a time to invalidate adoptions by same-sex couples from other states). The federal [...]