Well, it's official: Oklahoma-born children adopted by out-of-state, same-sex couples exist after all. (Since 2004, it's been questionable, when a state law began barring issuing them birth certificates.)
The Oklahoma State Department of Health said last week it won't challenge a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that affirmed a federal judge's ruling that the law is unconstitutional, the Tulsa World reported.
"We will be issuing birth certificates for all adoptions, whether same-sex or not, for children born in Oklahoma," said Tom Cross, deputy general counsel for the state Health Department.
The appeals court had concluded "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," The Associated Press reported.
The case originated when three same-sex couples sued, saying the law was singling out and discriminating against a group, according to the World. The constitutionality ruling led to "E.D.," a child born in Oklahoma but adopted by a lesbian couple in California, being issued a new birth certificate, AP reported.
Kenneth Upton, a Dallas attorney, represented the same-sex parents, per the AP story. He said Oklahoma is the only state to have such a law.
"This was the most extreme example of punishing children because you don't approve of their parents," he said. "What the state was saying (to the children) is that they are not your parents. That is just wrong."
