U.S. 5th Circuit Court upholds Louisiana court's adoption ruling

April 30, 2011

Louisiana: The U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a lower Louisiana court on April 13, 2011, deciding that the state did not have to reissue a birth certificate for a boy born in Louisiana and adopted by two gay men in New York. The issue arose when Oren Adar and Mickey Smith asked for a reissue of their adopted son's Louisiana birth certificate which listed them both as fathers. The request was denied by state registrar Darlene Smith because, in Louisiana, only married couples can jointly adopt a child. Ten out of sixteen justices supported the appellate ruling in full. They pointed to the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution which says that states do not have to enforce any other states' acts which are contrary to their own.

The supporters and opponents of this decision seemed to take sides primarily on the issue of homosexuality. Supporters of gay marriage were opposed to the court's ruling while proponents of traditional marriage applauded it. Arthur S. Leonard, New York Law School professor and blogger on gay issues called the decision "egregiously wrong" and attorney Kenneth Upton of Lambda Legal (who represented the parents) said that it was discrimination. Contrarily, Mathew Staver of the Liberty Counsel hailed it as "an incredible victory" for the traditional mother-father marriage paradigm. Some are predicting that the case will go to the Supreme Court.