Lambda Legal Files Complaint Against Arizona-based Antigay Adoption Companies on Behalf of New York Same-Sex Couple

(New York, July 1, 2008) — Lambda Legal is filing a discrimination complaint with the New York Attorney General's office on behalf of a gay couple in New York barred from posting their online adoptive-parent profile by Arizona-based Adoption Profiles, LLC and Adoption Media, LLC solely because they are a same-sex couple — violating New York antidiscrimination laws.

"These companies already pulled out of doing business in California after being sued for discrimination there," said Flor Bermudez, Staff Attorney at Lambda Legal. "They can't come into New York and effectively hang a sign on their door saying 'Gay couples need not apply.'"

Rosario Gennaro and Alexander Gardner knew for a long time that they wanted to have children and that adoption was the way to make it possible. The couple had a home study by a licensed social worker and obtained Certification as Qualified Adoptive Parents from the New York City Surrogate Court. The couple wanted to use the services of these companies to post their profile on ParentProfiles.com and seek a match with a birth parent. However, the website's eligibility requirements only allow a "Qualifying Husband and Wife Couple" to use the service, thus discriminating against same-sex couples on the basis of sexual orientation, sex and marital status. The company was sued in California for violating that state's antidiscrimination law and is no longer doing business there.

"We are committed partners who can provide a loving home for a child," said Rosario Gennaro. "Birth parents should have the opportunity to review our profile and see what a good home we have to offer a child."

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Contact: Tika Milan 212-809-8585 ext. 223; Email: tmilan@lambdalegal.org