Oklahoma Law Barring Recognition of Same Sex Adoptions Held Unconstitutional

A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit upheld a lower court decision striking down, as unconstitutional, an Oklahoma law barring recognition of adoptions by same-sex couples already finalized in another states. The Adoption Invalidation Law, passed in 2004, said that Oklahoma "shall not recognize an adoption by more than one individual of the same sex from any other state or foreign jurisdiction."  The case involved three same-sex couples who had adopted children in other states. The 10th circuit held:

"We hold that final adoption orders by a state court of competent jurisdiction are judgments that must be given full faith and credit under the Constitution by every other state in the nation. Because the Oklahoma statute at issue categorically rejects a class of out-of-state adoption decrees, it violates the Full Faith and Credit Clause. "

The case is Finstuen v. Crutcher and can be read online here.

Thanks to Grant Griffiths of the Kansas Family Law blog for this post.

Technorati Tags: Adoption, Non-traditional Family, Nontraditional Family