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<\/p>\nThe Nebraska Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling allowing same-sex couples to foster children, abandoning a 20-year-old policy which prohibited gays and lesbians from doing so.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Court analogized the ban to hanging a sign seeking job applicants on an office door but indicating, \u201cWhites Only.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a victory for children and LGBT Nebraskans. There are tens of thousands of LGBT people who call the Cornhusker State home and thousands of Nebraska children in need of a foster care placement,\u201d said Executive Director Danielle Conrad of the ACLU Nebraska in a statement.<\/p>\n
The Nebraska ban originated from a 1995 policy instituted by a former director of the Department of Health and Human Services and aimed at the LGBT community, with the director\u2019s memo reading:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is my decision that effective immediately, it is the policy of the Department of Social Service that children will not be placed in the homes of persons who identify themselves as homosexuals. This policy also applies to the area of foster home licensure in that, effective immediately, no foster home license shall be issued to persons who identify themselves as homosexual.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court\u2019s decision upheld the 2013 ruling on a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Nebraska, the ACLU LGBT and HIV Project, three LGBT couples, and the legal firm of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe couples had intentions of serving as foster parents but were turned down by state employees,\u201d Nicole Chavez of CNN<\/a> reported. \u201cOne couple claimed the staff of the state\u2019s Department of Health and Human Services discouraged them when they asked for information. Another couple said they were told same-sex couples could not be licensed even after they\u2019ve gone through training and background checks.\u201d<\/p>\n