By JUAN CARLOS RODRIGUEZ, South Florida Blade
Dec 4 2008, 2:11 PM |
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A
group
of
conservative
preachers
representing
the
Christian
Coalition
said
they
support
removing
adopted
children
of
gay
parents
from
stable
homes,
rather
than
let
a
ruling
stand
that
overturns
the
Florida’s
anti-gay
adoption
law.
The
group,
led
by
Rev.
Paul
Carbalho,
held
a
press
conference
at
the
Wayside
Baptist
Church
in
Kendall
Wednesday
to
protest
Miami-Dade
Circuit
Judge
Cindy
Lederman’s
ruling
that
favored
Frank
Martin
Gill,
a
gay
man
from
North
Miami
who
petitioned
to
adopt
two
half
brothers
he
fostered
since
2004.
In
a
53-page
decision,
Lederman
said
that
there
is
no
rational
basis
for
the
30-year-old
law,
known
to
be
the
most
restrictive
adoption
law
in
the
nation.
The
Florida
Attorney
General’s
office
filed
notice
to
appeal
Lederman’s
ruling.
Carbalho
was
joined
by
the
leaders
of
three
other
churches
including
Nathaniel
Wilcox,
among
the
most
vociferous
anti-gay
agitators
in
Miami-Dade
County.
“We
would
like
the
adoption
law
to
stay
in
position,”
Carbalho
said.
“We
don’t
want
to
experiment
with
children,
and
[Gill’s
family]
is
an
experimental
family.”
In
support
of
their
position,
the
conservative
preachers
upheld
many
of
the
same
homophobic
stereotypes
that
were
refuted
in
the
trial,
including
suggestions
that
gay
people
are
likely
to
be
pedophiles.
When
asked
whether
the
group
supported
removing
Gill’s
children
from
his
home,
Carbalho
said
that
he
would
support
placing
them
in
the
homes
of
straight
parents
regardless
of
the
fact
that
Lederman
and
eight
expert
witnesses
from
across
the
nation
agreed
that
it
was
in
the
children’s
best
interest
to
remain
with
Gill.
The
appeal
has
yet
to
be
assigned
a
judge
or
a
trial
according
to
the
clerk
of
Florida’s
Third
Court
of
Appeal
in
Miami.
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