A homophobic judge who recently ruled a lesbian couple unfit to care for the baby they have been fostering simply because they are a same-sex couple has been forced to remove himself from the case.
The one-year-old girl has been in the care of April Hoagland and Beckie Pierce, who were married last year and have two biological children of their own, for the last three months. The Salt Lake City, Utah couple were planning on adopting the child and had the girl’s biological mother’s consent to do so.
The decision that the child would be better off with heterosexual parents was made by a juvenile court judge who many believe was influenced by his own personal religious beliefs than the facts in front of him.
Judge Scott Johansen — who is also a bishop in the Mormon church — ordered this ruling during a routine hearing, however he struggled to justify his reasoning for doing so. Hoagland stated:
“He said through his research he had found out that kids in homosexual homes don’t do as well as they do in heterosexual homes and when they asked to show his research he would not.”
Despite the couple already raising two children and passing various home inspections, background checks and interviews deeming them fit to be foster parents, Johansen still claims that the child would be better off in a “more traditional home.”
Johansen, who was made a judge in 1992 and has had his conduct questioned on various occasions since then, made this decision despite child welfare officials supporting the couple. The Utah Division of Child and Family Services stated:
“It is DCFS’s position that this removal is not in the best interest of the child.”
His decision enraged human rights and LGBT activists and Chad Griffin, president of prominent Human Rights Campaign, believes Johansen’s decision is “outrageous, shocking and unjust” stating:
“At a time when so many children in foster care need loving homes, it is sickening to think that a child would be taken from caring parents who planned to adopt.“
The pressure from human rights and activist groups, not to mention the backlash from the public, forced Johansen to pull his decision and allow the child to stay with the couple despite his own personal view on a lesbian couple raising children.
It was made clear that child welfare officials were doing all they could to keep the family together, however there was still a chance the child could be removed again before the next custody hearing on 4th December.
This was not a chance that the couple was willing to take and they requested that the judge be disqualified from their case. Although the couple has no legal standing, Johnansen made the decision to step down from the case after widespread criticism and complaints were made by various gay rights and human activist groups even after he reversed his decision.
Image by Torbakhopper via Flickr under this Creative Commons License.
