Gay Adoption Ban Overturned in Florida: Other States That Restrict the Practice

(Sept. 22) -- For the past 33 years, the state of Florida has officially banned gay and lesbian couples from adopting children. Today, however, a court of appeals sided with a lower court and ruled that such restrictions were unconstitutional.

The case, which was brought by a gay couple, will now likely head to the Florida Supreme Court, the Miami Herald reported. A 2009 Quinnipiac poll found that 55 percent of the state's residents favor doing away with the ban on gay adoption, while 39 percent of those questioned said they would keep it in place.

If Florida's law, which is the only one to expressly single out and prohibit gays and lesbians from adopting a child, is again deemed unconstitutional, that will leave only three states where cohabiting same-sex couples are still not allowed to adopt.

1. Arkansas
In 2008, voters in Arkansas approved Act 1, which prohibits couples who are not married -- both gay and straight -- from adopting a child. The law does not, however, forbid single gay individuals from adopting, only those who are cohabiting outside of the traditional bounds of wedlock.

2. Mississippi
In 2004, voters in Mississippi passed a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. In conjunction with the state's restrictions that limit adoption to single people or married couples, that means gays or lesbians can adopt only if they are single.

3. Utah
Like Arkansas, Utah forbids non-married couples to adopt, but also does not recognize same-sex unions. Section (b) of the state's adoption code reads:

A child may not be adopted by a person who is cohabiting in a relationship that is not a legally valid and binding marriage under the laws of this state. For purposes of this Subsection (3)(b), "cohabiting" means residing with another person and being involved in a sexual relationship with that person.

Compare that list to the one of states that allow gay or same-sex marriage in the first place, which currently includes New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa and Vermont.

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