Tennessee looks at new bid to ban gay couples from adopting

With Republicans now in control of both houses in the Tennessee legislature GOP lawmakers say they are confident of passing a bill to ban gay couples from adopting children. Similar bills failed in 2006 and 2008. The latest bill was filed by Sen. Paul Stanley (R) - in an effort to counter charges of gay discrimination, the measure also would apply to unmarried opposite-sex couples. The bill "prohibits any individual who is cohabitating in a sexual relationship outside of a marriage that is valid under the constitution and laws of this state from adopting a minor." Same-sex couples are barred from marrying in Tennessee by a constitutional amendment passed in 2006 with 80 percent approval. Stanley also was responsible for the 2008 attempt to bar same-sex couples from adopting. The bill would not forbid single gays and lesbians from being adoptive parents - so long as they did not live with a partner. In 2007, the state Attorney General's office prepared a legal opinion saying there is nothing in the Tennessee constitution or in state law to prevent same-sex couples from becoming adoptive parents. The opinion was sought by a county judge who was asked to approve and adoption by a same-sex couple in Wilson County. The legal opinion said that under current state law anyone 18 years of age or older may adopt, assuming the adoption is found to be in the best interest of the child." "There is no prohibition in Tennessee statutes against adoption by a same sex couple," it said. The opinion also noted that before a judge grants an adoption there must be a finding that the adoptive parents "are fit persons to have the care and custody of the child."