A story published today by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that activists are awaiting a decision from Pennsylvania's top court that will determine whether gay couples in the state can adopt children together.

A man or woman can adopt children in Pennsylvania. Lower courts have ruled, however, same-sex couples cannot adopt children jointly because state law bars unmarried couples from doing so.

Adoption laws like Pennsylvania's that exclude same-sex couples are being challenged nationwide by civil rights groups.

"Laws like that deprive children of ever being placed in permanent homes," said Eric Ferrero, public education director of the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project in New York City. "There are some fundamental rights of children being violated by that."

Opponents argue that adoption by same-sex couples puts children at a disadvantage because they are left without a mother or without a father.

"Evidence indicates that a child fares best in a family situation where there is a mother and a father who are married to each other," said Michael Geer, president of the Pennsylvania Family Institute, a research and education organization that has filed a brief in support of Pennsylvania's law in the Supreme Court appeal.

"We're just asking the Supreme Court to uphold the lower court ruling," he said.

Two couples, one from Erie and one from Lancaster, have filed the Supreme Court appeal. They attempted to adopt children they are raising together. Judges rejected their petitions. Each couple appealed to the state Superior Court, which combined them into a single case. The Superior Court ruled 6_3 in November 2000 that a gay person cannot adopt his or her partner's children, citing Pennsylvania's adoption law.

The couples have hired a Pittsburgh civil rights attorney to appeal the Superior Court decision.

They Superior Court opinion notes that unmarried heterosexual couple aren't able to jointly adopt in Pennsylvania, either.

The ACLU's Ferrero said while the law appears not to target sexual orientation, "it's very clear to us that's what these laws do."

"It's unconstitutional to have a law for the purpose of expressing disapproval of gay people," he said.

Opponents say this argument ignores the purpose of adoption, which is the well-being of the child, not the happiness of the couple who want to adopt. The Family Institute was joined by the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference in filing court arguments in opposition to same-sex adoption.

By allowing a same-sex couple to adopt, Geer said: "You're saying that child is not going to have a permanent mother or that child is not going to have a permanent father."