Colorado

Proud Parenting member - Todduscraig - is ecstatic in his latest blog post. And rightly so. His family's adoption story started over two and a half years ago. They jumped into action as soon as the Democratically controlled Colorado legislature and governor signed-off on second parent adoption.

His blog entry begins:

Proud Parenting member - Todduscraig - has been blogging about his family's quest for an approved second parent adoption in Colorado.

In his first post, he writes:

"My husband AJ is going to the court house today to begin the process for second parent adoption. The democratic legislature in Colorado just last year passed a law that allows for any second parent to adopt, which include gay couples."

A second parent adoption is a legal procedure that allows a same-sex parent to adopt a partner’s biological or adoptive child without terminating the legal rights of the first parent. States must honor second-parent adoptions from other states.

Second-parent adoption is authorized in California by statute - and where appellate courts have ruled that the state adoption law permits second-parent adoption.

A statute is a law passed by a legislature. An appellate court is about appeals. It has the power to review the judgment of another lower court or tribunal.

Colorado made a lot of progress in the month of August. Once a target of boycotts by lesbian and gay groups it has become the 10th state to allow gay couples to adopt - and the 20th to extend civil rights protections to gays and lesbians.

After Congress ordered states in 1997 to move faster to find more families willing to adopt, child-welfare organizations joined together to get legislatures to allow any qualified parent to adopt, irrespective of sexual orientation.

Although President Bush maintains a conservative-Republican presence on every issue, Democrats now control both houses of Congress. They won majorities in 10 new state legislatures, and control a majority of America’s governorships.

Supporters of gay families should be pleased with recent developments in our fight for equality. New Hampshire recently approved civil unions and Massachusetts lawmakers blocked a proposed ballot measure to ban gay marriage. In New York, the State Assembly passed a marriage equality bill that was introduced by Gov. Eliot Spitzer. The bill still has to pass the state Senate.