A judge in Utah has ordered that a child be taken away from lesbian foster parents.
April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce are “heartbroken” and “shattered” after the ruling which came on Tuesday and has attracted a great deal of criticism.
According to the couple, Judge Scott Johansen made the decision based on his own “research.”
They told CBS: “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… when they asked to show his research, he would not.”
April and Beckie (image: YouTube/CBS This Morning).
The Utah Division of Child and Family Services is now planning to challenge the decision which will see the child removed from their care within seven days.
April and Beckie, who have been raising the child for three months, were allowed to become foster parents after the US Supreme Court made gay marriage legal across the US.
They also had the full support of the child’s biological mother and passed a number of inspections, interviews and checks.
Reports state that the foster agency has said that it is unaware of any issues with the pair’s performance as foster parents.
Here are just a few reactions to the news…
Utah judge takes child away from parents solely because they are lesbian. Like wtf man.
— Owen Nadeau™ (@Owen_Nad) November 12, 2015
Utah judge #ScottJohansen removes foster child from Lesbian couple. This discrimination will not stand #loveislove https://t.co/Yi9ecZrye4 — Brian (@Lafond66) November 12, 2015
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
