Adoption Service Vacates NY

The antigay Adoption.com and ParentProfiles.com stopped doing business in New York, according to a March 4 announcement issued by NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

In July, 2008, Lambda Legal filed a discrimination complaint with the attorney general's office on behalf of Rosario Gennaro and Alexander Gardner, a New York gay couple barred from posting their online adoptive-parent profile by the companies solely because they are a same-sex couple. Adoption Profiles was also sued in California in 2004 by NCLR for violating that state's antidiscrimination law and, as a result, is no longer doing business there.

Gennaro and Gardner knew that adoption was the only way to make possible their longtime dream of having children, and sought to post their profile on ParentProfiles.com, a service of Adoption Profiles, LLC and Adoption Media, LLC. Despite having obtained certification as Qualified Adoptive Parents from the New York City Surrogate Court, the couple was unable to post their profile on the website. The eligibility requirements of the website allowed only "Qualifying Husband and Wife" couples that are "one male husband and one female wife" to use the service.

This latest announcement confirms that the companies in question violated New York laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and marital status. "We are thrilled that…no couple will have to experience what we did in our effort to become parents," says Gennaro.