JACKSON -U.S. District Court Judge Daniel P. Jordan III in Mississippi has declared unconstitutional the state’s ban on adoption by same sex couples, citing the Supreme Court of the United States’ 2015 marriage equality ruling in the historic case Obergefell v. Hodges.
“This welcome decision affirms that qualified same-sex couples in Mississippi seeking to become adoptive or foster parents are entitled to equal treatment under the law, and commits to the well-being of children in our state who need loving homes,” said HRC Mississippi State Director Rob Hill. “Judge Jordan has repudiated reprehensible efforts by our elected leaders to deny legal rights to our families. They are on the wrong side of history, and today’s decision confirms, yet again, that they are also on the wrong side of the law.”
The federal lawsuit, Campaign for Southern Equality v. Mississippi Department of Human Services, challenged the ban. Mississippi was the only state with such ban still in place.
Jordan says that the Supreme Court of the United States, in its decision affirming marriage equality, “foreclosed litigation over laws interfering with the right to marry and ‘rights and responsibilities intertwined with marriage.’” The Supreme Court determines the law of the states, including Mississippi.
The Mississippi Democratic Party is celebrating the court’s decision, says spokesperson Ouida Meruvia:
