Nov 27 2008
Ban on Gay Adoptions Overturned in Florida: Good News for Liberty and for Checks and Balances
On November 25, Judge Cindy Lederman of the Miami-Dade Circuit Court in Florida overturned that state’s ban on gay adoptions, which had been on the books since 1977. This is tremendously hopeful news for individual liberty and for the system of checks and balances. You can find out more about the specifics of this case here.
The State of Florida defended the ban by citing (possibly dubious) statistical evidence that in gay couples, substance abuse and mental instability are more prevalent. However, in the particular family in question, that of Frank Gill, it was clear that children who had been abused by their real parents were in fact thriving. I congratulate Judge Lederman for treating individuals as individuals and not as statistics and for ruling on the facts of the case, rather than on any probabilities with which the facts did not correspond. Even if certain problems were more prevalent in gay couples, this does not give anyone license to treat any gay couple without such problems any worse than heterosexual couples without such problems are treated.
Aside from being a victory for individualism, the recent ruling was also a victory for checks and balances. Here, a courageous judge checked abuses of liberty imposed by Florida’s legislative branch. Often, too many opponents of so-called “judicial activism” want judges to be mere passive enforcers of the law, bowing down to the will of legislature even when the legislature acts in an oppressive and immoral fashion in the judge’s own opinion. But this is a recipe for legislative tyranny – a tyranny that is one step removed from the tyranny of the majority. Where there is an opportunity to bring about genuine individual liberty and to stave off oppressions, every individual – whatever his political position – has a moral right and perhaps an obligation to use his power to de-legitimize coercion and persecution.
Sincerely,
Gennady Stolyarov II
Editor-in-Chief, The Rational Argumentator: http://rationalargumentator.com
Writer, Associated Content: http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/46796/g_stolyarov_ii.html
Author, Implied Consent, A Play on the Sanctity of Human Life: http://rationalargumentator.com/impliedconsent.html
Author, A Rational Cosmology: http://rationalargumentator.com/rc.html
Author, The Best Self-Help is Free: http://rationalargumentator.com/selfhelpfree.html
Author, The Progress of Liberty Blog: http://progressofliberty.today.com/
With the largely elderly population, Florida is not the most progressive state, but sometimes, justice prevails. It will be nice when all the baby boomers die off, and the post baby boomers take over. It will be a much different state then. I’m in the back end of the baby boomers at 56, so awhile to go yet, but the older ones are killing off the younger ones on the road every day!
It’s not just the elderly population that the GLBT groups are up against. The vast majority of Florida is very traditionally southern. Aside from the “I-4 Corridor” and some areas in the very southern tip, Florida might as well be considered Alabama or Mississippi.