ATLANTA - The Florida Legislature has the authority to forbid homosexuals from adopting children, lawyers for the state wrote in a brief filed in a federal appeals court. <br>
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The attorneys argued that as Florida limits the legal number of spouses and recognizes only heterosexual marriages, it is well within the Legislature's purview to allow only heterosexuals to adopt, to ``further the public moral sense.'' <br>
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The brief was filed with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta Tuesday is in response to an appeal filed to a federal district judge's ruling in Miami that the law is valid. <br>
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Florida is the only state in the nation that has a blanket prohibition against adoption by all gay people, whether married or single. Two other states prohibit only gay couples from adopting: Mississippi and Utah. <br>
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The ban was passed in 1977 at a time when entertainer Anita Bryant went on a crusade against a Miami-Dade County ordinance protecting homosexuals from discrimination. <br>
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Five gay men who have been foster parents or guardians to Florida children filed a lawsuit in federal court last year seeking to overturn the law.
