The last remaining U.S. ban on adoptions by same-sex couples could soon be overturned

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last updated 12 August 2015

Mississippi is the only state in the nation with a law banning same-sex couples from adopting, but given the Supreme Court's recent ruling in favor of same-sex marriage, that could soon change. Civil rights lawyers filed suit in federal court on Wednesday challenging the law, and according to legal experts, it is "highly unlikely" that the 2000 Mississippi law could hold up in court.

"In the federal courts, I'm pretty confident Obergefell will be construed broadly," Ronald Krotoszynski, a constitutional law professor at the University of Alabama, told The New York Times. "I think it would be hard to draw a principled distinction between marriage and adoption, so it shouldn't be a hard case."

Furthermore, the Mississippi governor who signed the ban into law 15 years ago has since publicly admitted that he regrets the decision. "I believed at the time this was a principled position based on my faith. But I no longer believe it was right," Ronnie Musgrove wrote in an op-ed published in The Huffington Post. "As I've gotten older, I came to understand that a person's sexual orientation has absolutely nothing to do with their ability to be a good parent."