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Adoption websites support traditional marriage, win suit filed by homosexuals

Two Arizona-based Internet businesses have won a lengthy court battle after a lawsuit was brought against them by a California homosexual couple.



Adoption Media and Adoption Profiles operate websites for potential adoptive parents. They post profiles of couples who wish to adopt, and both websites have a policy of profiling only traditional-marriage couples. A California court recently dismissed all claims against both companies and their managers, Dale Gwilliam and Nathan Gwilliam.

"This settlement is a tremendous victory," says attorney Glen Lavy in a press release. "We are pleased that Adoption Media has been vindicated … and Adoption Profiles can continue to serve parents and children alike without betraying the principles upon which it was founded." Lavy is senior counsel for Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the businesses.

In 2002, California homosexuals Michael Butler and Richard Butler submitted their profile to ParentProfile.com. When it was not approved for posting, they filed the suit Butler v. Adoption Media in San Francisco in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

After prolonged legal wrangling, the websites are free to continue their policies of accepting profiles only from couples in traditional marriages. On the negative side, the court ordered the websites to cease accepting any profiles from California residents. Lavy says that portion of the settlement "take away a valuable service" from prospective parents in the Golden State.

"The only thing the National Center for Lesbian Rights achieved through this litigation is that no potential adoptive parents in California will have the opportunity to take advantage of the service provided by the ParentProfiles.com website," Lavy explains. "Californians are the poorer for this attempt to misapply the nondiscrimination laws of California to the Internet business of an Arizona company."

Lavy likens the political pressure on businesses operating in California to that applied in Massachusetts, where last year, Catholic Charities in Boston had to stop facilitating adoptions because their adoption service would not serve potential same-sex parents.