Same-Sex Couples Can Finally Adopt In All 50 States

A ban on same-sex couples adopting in Mississippi was overturned this week

A federal judge ruled yesterday that Mississippi’s ban on same-sex couples adopting children is unconstitutional, making it legal for gay couples to adopt. Until the decision, Mississippi was the lone hold-out. This means that same-sex couples adopting is now legal in all 50 states. Finally.

The challenge to the state’s 2000 ban on same-sex couples adopting was brought last year by four couples. After the United States Supreme Court’s 2015 decision upholding same-sex marriage, it seemed unlikely that Mississippi’s law would remain on the books for much longer. The decision to reverse the adoption ban is monumental however, and has many human rights activists cheering.

According to Huffington Post, The Human Rights Campaign’s Mississippi state director Rob Hill is one such activist saying, “This welcome decision affirms that qualified same-sex couples in Mississippi seeking to become adoptive or foster parents are entitled to equal treatment under the law, and commits to the well-being of children in our state who need loving homes.” He says the lawmakers who created the ban to begin with are “on the wrong side of history” and as this decision now proves, “the wrong side of the law.”

He couldn’t be more correct.

It’s 2016, not 1962. Most reasonable and compassionate human beings have long since concluded that gay couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples, as well as equal treatment under the law. And this decision is definitely worth celebrating, but there are still states that place restrictions on gay couples for fostering children along with other hurdles, such as limiting what contractors same-sex parents are able to work with to facilitate state adoptions.

As Hill says, anyone trying to limit gay couples from adopting children is on the wrong side of history and one day, our country will look back and feel shame that we had actual laws preventing same-sex couples from adopting much-wanted children. In this modern world we live in, it’s disturbing that there are still those who believe in legislating hate and discrimination.

With over 415,000 children in the United States in foster care awaiting a “forever” home, it’s a real testament to the lengths hateful people will go to stop gay couples from enjoying the same rights as heterosexual couples. These children deserve parents and a stable situation. As much as this is a victory for same-sex couples wanting to start a family, it’s arguably just as big a victory for the literal thousands of children in foster care in need of a loving home. Love is love. No beliefs worth following will say otherwise.

This is so long over-due for many families. It’s time our country fully recognize that the hateful and discriminatory views of some are not reason enough to stop others from being equal in the eyes of the law. Now, thousands of couples will have the ability to adopt children and create happy families where before, there were kids waiting in foster care and couples desperate to become parents. This is an incredible win and hopefully, there will be many more in coming years.