Fla. courts weigh same-sex adoption issues

SARASOTA, Fla., June 22 (UPI) -- A bitter custody battle between a former lesbian couple will test the limits of Florida's ban on gay adoptions, legal experts say.

The couple, Lara Embry and Kimberly Ryan, each adopted babies given birth by the other woman while living in Washington state, which allows same-sex couples to adopt. But Ryan now lives in Sarasota, Fla., where she is engaged to be married to a man, and refuses to allow Embry to see her adoptive daughter, The Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported Monday.

Florida is the only state that has a blanket ban against same-sex adoptions -- a law that will be tested as Ryan seeks to have the state disregard Washington's adoption laws, the newspaper said.

Florida's 2nd District Court of Appeal has reversed a lower court's decision denying Embry the same rights as any adoptive parent, but the Liberty Counsel, a conservative advocacy organization that is representing Ryan, says it will appeal that decision to the Florida Supreme Court.

"It's direct conflict with its own laws," Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver told the Post. "My concern is it would create a back-door way around Florida's law. … That's not good for Florida's children."