Video: North Miss. Woman Talks About Impact of Gay Adoption Ban

[syndicaster id=’6310304′]

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — A North Mississippi woman talks exclusively to WCBI about her future, after a judge strikes down the state’s gay adoption ban.

Tina Sweeten-Lunsford and her wife, Kari, helped file the lawsuit against the Department of Human Services.

The couple has been together for nearly 20 years.

They’ve spent more than a dozen years trying to adopt.

Now, they will have a chance.

“We think it’s really important that the children that are on the waiting list in Mississippi have safe and good homes to go to,” Lunsford said. “We’ve been trying to provide that kind of opportunity for the last 13 years, and we were turned around at every place.”

The Lunsfords are one of four lesbian couples, and two advocacy groups who filed the lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Human Services last August.

In a judgement last week, the law keeping gay couples from adopting was ruled unconstitutional, and can’t be enforced by DHS.

“It makes me feel very privileged to be able to have been part of this, and especially happy for the two couples that were plaintiffs, but also other couples in the state of Mississippi who have biological children, and are now allowed to do second parent adoption,” Lunsford said.

The Lunsfords don’t know what’s next for them right now, but they’re potentially looking to foster a child.

“When we started this, we were gung ho about fostering and adopting, but we were also 10 years younger,” Lunsford said. “Now we’re just really happy that we helped pave the way for younger couples to be able to look at fostering and adopting in Mississippi.”

She says they don’t want special treatment, they just want to be treated like everyone else.

“We’re just like any other couple. We have loving homes, and we love children, and we want to provide safe places.”

WCBI asked the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office if the state planned to appeal the ruling. We still haven’t heard back.