Posted: April 27, 2004 12:01 a.m. ET
(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) The Oklahoma House Monday voted to ban co-parenting by same-sex couples.
Under the bill sponsored by state Rep. Susan Winchester (R-Chickasha) only one person in a gay household could be recognized as the legal parent of any child adopted in Oklahoma.
The legislation tightens an existing law which prohibits same-sex couples from adopting in the state but which currently does not cover people from outside Oklahoma who adopt children in the state.
Winchester prepared the bill following a controversy last month in which the Oklahoma Health Department refused to issue a birth certificate for a child adopted by a gay couple who live in Seattle, Washington. (story)
Lambda legal threatened to take the Department to court, but after the state Attorney General said Oklahoma's adoption code requires the state to recognize out-of-state adoption decrees involving gay couples the new birth certificate was issued.
Lambda said the new legislation will punish children for the sake of scoring political points.
But Winchester said the bill would help dissuade out of state same-sex couples from adopting Oklahoma children keeping the children in traditional family homes.
The House voted 93-to-4 to approve the bill. It must now be approved by the Senate.
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