Utah governor criticizes order to remove baby from lesbian parents

The decision flies in the face of the “prevailing professional consensus that the sexual orientation of parents has nothing to do with their ability to be good parents”, according to a Human Rights Campaign (HRC) statement released Wednesday.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert said he was “a little puzzled” by the decision. “Claims to the contrary have been consistently rejected by the courts”, said Karen McCreary, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah.

A voter-approved ban on same-sex marriages in Utah was overturned a year ago by federal judges. It appears the child services agency that placed the baby in the home isn’t happy, either.

“This is the first time there has been an attempt to deprive gay foster parents of their rights to care for an adoptive child”, said Callan.

“It is our position that this removal is not in the best interest of the child”, the agency added.

The Mormon church has recently adopted a new policy banning the baptism of same-sex couples and declaring married gay couples as apostates, according to the Washington Post.

“Ultimately this harms the child most of all, and when Americans see that, their hearts begin to open”, Williams said, noting the national attention the case has gotten.

The couple, legally married in Utah, planned to adopt the child. Earlier this year, Utah adopted an anti-discrimination law that won praise from both gay rights groups and religious liberties advocates. Hoagland told the news station they are “shattered” by the judge’s ruling.

Peirce said attorneys are still working on the case.

The ruling came during a routine hearing Tuesday for the couple in the central Utah city of Price.

Herbert expects the case to be reviewed and said DCFS will continue to protect the safety and the welfare of the child.

Without a challenge, the child will be removed from April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce’s care within a week. They want to adopt the baby.

They told the AP that the judge cited research that children do better when they are raised by heterosexual couples, though Johansen would not share that research after passing down his decision. “It was a placement that worked for the kid and worked for the family, so we were surprised the judge issued that order”. “And I’m confident that’s what the team did in this situation”.

With the newly legal same-sex marriage law, child services licensed the couple as foster parents. However, he did not provide that research when asked for it, they said.

Instead, they say a judge told them there was research that indicated children who are raised in same-sex parent homes do not do as well as children who are raised by heterosexual parents. They are also raising Peirce’s two children, 12 and 14, the newspaper reported. Unlike other studies, Regnerus also did not rely on reports of children, while they were still living in their homes, or the potentially biased reports of the parents.

“We’ve been told to care for this child like a mother would, and I am her mother”.