We know it’s not time for Darts and Laurels yet, but the Editorial Board would like to commend state Rep. Christine Johnson for agreeing to carry a child for a gay couple in Utah — one of only six states in the U.S. to explicitly ban gay adoption.
Johnson’s decision may not have raised many eyebrows in California, one of the 14 states that allow gay adoption. But Johnson’s child will be raised in a state where 48 percent of the population belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and more than 60 percent voted Republican in the 2008 presidential election.
But despite the risk — or probability — of offending those who make up much of her constituency, Johnson is making a bold move and a step toward equality.
Hopefully, her actions will be noted in Florida — the only state that bans adoption by gay and lesbian singles — and strengthen the growing fight to convince people across the nation that it’s cruel to deny rights based on sexual orientation.
In accordance with Johnson’s personal act of support for gay parenting, “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon partnered with the American Civil Liberties Union Saturday in Miami Beach to fight publicly.
Nixon and the ACLU hosted the kickoff event to launch a campaign to repeal Florida’s 1977 ban.
The Editorial Board hopes this is the beginning of a war against discrimination that will start with the eradication of adoption bans and end with real equality.
