RECENT ACLU VICTORIES
September was a month of important victories for the LGBT community in the areas of adoption, military discrimination, and relationships.
In Florida, an appellate court affirmed a lower court’s ruling that Florida’s ban on adoption by people who are gay is unconstitutional. While this victory is cause for all to celebrate, no one is more pleased than our client Martin Gill, who challenged the law so he and his partner could adopt the two brothers who have been in their foster care for years. The state has a few more weeks in which it could appeal the ruling, but for now, fairness has prevailed.
A U.S. federal court ruled in favor of Washington’s Major Margaret Witt – a decorated U.S. Air Force flight nurse who had been dismissed under the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy because she is a lesbian – and ordered the U.S. Air Force to reinstate her. After six days of trial, Judge Robert Leighton found that Major Witt's sexual orientation does not negatively impact unit morale or cohesion. ACLU of Washington attorneys have represented Major Witt since her case began in 2006.
A city in Montana took a strong stand in support of domestic partnerships. On Monday the Bozeman City Commission unanimously passed a resolution affirming every couple’s right to individual dignity, privacy, due process and the pursuit of life’s basic necessities guaranteed under the Montana Constitution’s Declaration of Rights. The resolution also expressed support for the ACLU of Montana’s lawsuit on behalf of seven same-sex couples suing the state for domestic partnership protections. Bozeman Mayor Jeff Krauss urged the state not to fight the lawsuit. “I believe this is the greatest country on Earth, and it starts with our respect for individual rights,” Krauss said.
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