Utah judge takes baby away from lesbian foster parents

[sawasdee]

i am extremely glad that this case has been reviewed. However, the judge appears to have been wrong as a matter of law; the only objection to the adoption was the sexuality of the prospective parents, and I thought that exclusion on such grounds was illegal in the wake of Obergefell v Hodges - which I interpreted as meaning that reinterpretation of clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment meant equal rights under the law was now protected. Please correct me if I have got this wrong.

He also seems to have used as justification a discredited and biased report stating that heterosexual couples make better parents, using it to confirm his own bias. All parties to the case, including the child's guardian ad litem, disagreed with his decision. If it had gone to appeal, and his decision overturned, would there have been any board of review for the judge? If he is elected, is there any machinery for recall? Or can he just continue to hand down rulings mirroring his own beliefs rather than the law?

The case of the Texas judge cited above by amandaaries  is also horrifying. He was filmed beating his teenage daughter, who suffers from cerebral palsy, with a belt. Her crime? Downloading music from the internet. He continues to sit in Family Court, deciding whether others are fit to parent! it sometimes feels that the judiciary have  their own immunity.

[lawlifelgbt]

I have a former colleague who now lives in Utah, with her wife and two beautiful, smart daughters. I can tell from her Facebook and other posts, how much they love their daughters and how much opportunity, enrichment, and good values they give. If any kids of mine in the future ever ended up in court (god forbid), I would much rather they go to my colleague than to this jerk!

[paganbaby]

The study the judge referred to was most likely Regnerus', which has been roundly criticized and disavowed by his own University. He had only one or two kids from intact LGBT families in the whole study. Here is just one of many articles about it:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/10/new-criticism-of-regnerus-study-on-parenting-study/

Most studies show LGBT parents to be at least as good as straight parents. Possibly better on average, because they rarely have kids by accident.

There was endless discussion of this during the various marriage cases. My favorite comment was that if we were to allow people to raise children based on the best outcomes as shown by statistical analysis, we'd only let rich Asian-Americans living in the suburbs give birth.

[sawasdee]

Great post - and welcome!