Beckie Peirce and April Hoagland, a lesbian couple in Utah, were married in October last year. Since then, the couple has been fostering a 1-year-old girl, and raising Peirce’s two biological children together—until recently, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
This week, 7th District Court Juvenile Judge Scott Johansen ordered the couple to give up their foster child, claiming that it would be better for her to be raised by a straight couple, though he failed to provide evidence for his claim when asked.
“We love her and she loves us, and we haven’t done anything wrong,” Pierce told the Salt Lake Tribune. “And the law, as I understand it, reads that any legally married couple can foster and adopt.”
Peirce and Hoagland are currently in the appeals process trying to win the right to legally adopt the child. In the meantime, they are working with the Utah Division of Child and Family Services in order to find alternate temporary housing for the infant in order to comply with the judge’s order.
“We have a lot of support,” Peirce said to the Salt Lake Tribune. “DCFS wants us to have the child, the Guardian Ad Litem wants us to have the child, the mother wants us to have the child, so the only thing standing in the way is the judge.”
Ashley Sumner, the spokeswoman from the DCFS, noted in an interview with the New York Times that same-sex adoption was illegal until a federal court overturned the state’s ban on gay marriage last year. She disagreed with Johansen’s ruling.
“We made the determination that this is a good placement and we want to continue that placement,” Sumner said. “We don’t want to disrupt this child’s life again.”
Even Hillary Clinton weighed in on the matter, taking to Twitter to denounce Johansen’s ruling.
Being a good parent has nothing to do with sexual orientation—thousands of families prove that. https://t.co/xQLh25RAYR
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 12, 2015
The Salt Lake Tribune notes that in the past, Johansen slapped a 16-year-old boy he felt was unruly in his courtroom and ordered that a 13-year-old girl cut off her ponytail as punishment for cutting off another girl’s hair.
The ruling is a reminder to people everywhere that the fight for LGBTQ+ rights doesn’t end with same-sex marriage. Many couples like Peirce and Hoagland are facing similar struggles. Here’s to hoping for the best for the family, and for equal rights all over the country.