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Same-sex adoptions: Outside decrees OK, court affirms
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A federal appeals court says a 2004 state law that denies recognition of out-of-state adoptions by gay parents is unconstitutional
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Tulsa World
8/4/2007
"An Oklahoma law that bars state recognition of adoptions from other states by same-sex parents is unconstitutional, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday. The ruling is a victory for gay and lesbian couples who adopt children.
"It is a defeat for Oklahoma legislators who passed the law in 2004 and for the Oklahoma State Department of Health, which sought to uphold the law.
"...An attorney for the same-sex parents, Kenneth Upton, speaking from his office in Dallas, said, 'We're just real happy for these parents and their kids.'
"Upton, of the gay-rights group Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, said no other state has a similar law. 'This was the most extreme example of punishing children because you don't approve of their parents,' he said. Upton said the law punished children because it 'legally orphaned them.'"