Federal Judge Prohibits State From Enforcing Law Banning Gay Adoption
A federal judge has just blocked Mississippi’s ban on gay people and same-sex couples adopting children. U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III, citing the Supreme Court’s Obergefell decision, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and barred the Mississippi Department of Human Services and its director from enforcing that ban.
Judge Jordan wrote that it seems “highly unlikely that the same court that held a state cannot ban gay marriage because it would deny benefits—expressly including the right to adopt—would then conclude that married gay couples can be denied that very same benefit.”
And he ruled the Mississippi ban “violates the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.”
Roberta Kaplan, who won Edie Windsor’s case striking down DOMA at the Supreme Court was the lead attorney.
The Campaign for Southern Equality, which also represented the plaintiffs, posted these tweets:
The full ruling is here.