Yes, that’s right. Just days after lesbian moms Vanessa Alenier and Melanie Leon spoke before the Florida Third District Court of Appeal to try and preserve Alenier’s adoption of her young nephew, comes news that a Broward County judged has approved Robert Lamarche’s adoption of a teenaged boy Lamarche—who is gay—has fostered for about two years. The judge wrote that the adoption, “is in the minor’s best interest” and that the state law banning adoption by gay men and lesbians is unconstitutional.
The Miami Herald reports that the state is not objecting to the adoption, but doesn’t explain why. The state is objecting in the Alenier case and in the case of Frank Martin Gill, who is trying to adopt the two brothers he and his partner have been fostering for more than five years. When a Monroe Circuit judge in 2008 let Wayne LaRue Smith adopt the boy he and his partner had been fostering since 2001, however, the state did not appeal, because Smith had already been named the boy’s legal guardian.
With news that Florida Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist (I) has issued a statement affirming support for a range of LGBT rights, including adoption (Miami Herald covered it here; Raw Story broke the news earlier), is it possible there could be a little more sunshine soon for lesbian and gay families in the Sunshine State?