Kentucky Court Strikes Down Same Sex Adoptions
A court in Kentucky struck down same-sex stepparent adoptions on September 12th ruling that stepparent adoptions are only allowed when the stepparent, of the opposite sex, is married to the biological parent. Additionally, same-sex marriages are prohibited under Kentucky law.
Even though other judges within the state have granted same-sex stepparent adoptions the judge in this case ruled that this was against Kentucky law. The judge also attempted to assert that it was not the judiciary’s job to state what the legislature has not or to take a moral stand on the issue by granting or denying these stepparent adoptions.
However, by denying the stepparent adoption between a lesbian couple this judge has taken a stand. Sadly, the lesbian couple in this case used a sperm donor and one partners eggs to achieve this pregnancy, which they both consider themselves to be parents in, but because of one judge they will not be legally recognized as such. This is a big step for Kentucky, in that they have never ruled for or against any uses of assisted reproductive technologies in the past. Hopefully this ruling is not a preview of how the Kentucky judiciary will rule in respect to other assisted reproduction cases.
