Saturday, September 28, 2002

A story published today by the Chicago Sun Times reports that a Cook County judge has been cleared, at least for now, of administrative charges that she discriminated against l same-sex couples seeking to adopt.

Judge Susan McDunn voided adoption orders for two same-sex couples in separate cases, then she sent private information about the couples and the children to a conservative Washington, D.C., group that opposes adoption by same-sex couples, appointing the group as a "secondary guardian" for the children.

Her actions were driven by her bias against gays, the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board argued in its case before the Illinois Courts Commission.

But the commission ruled Friday that McDunn never made any explicit statements of bias against same-sex couples, and so it may be true that, as she states, she was merely trying to get all points of view on record to safeguard the "best interests" of the children.

John Gallo, attorney for the Judicial Inquiry Board, said he expects to gather more evidence of McDunn's alleged bias against same-sex couples and file an amended complaint against McDunn.

In both adoption cases, lesbian couples sought to have one partner legally adopt the other partner's biological child. The court-appointed guardian for both children had signed off on the adoptions, and the Cook County Department of Supportive Services had declared both sets of parents "stable, loving and nurturing."

The practice in Cook County and Illinois is to grant such uncontested adoptions as routine.

But McDunn argued in her briefs that, "The adoption of children by unmarried, same-sex couples is very controversial; [some] states have entirely banned it."

Rather than grant the uncontested adoptions, McDunn held hearings at which she "inquired about petitioners' experience in coming to the realization they were homosexual, their early sexual experiences, and the nature of petitioners' relationship," according to the complaint against her.

The couples went to her presiding judge, who voided McDunn's orders and granted the adoptions. McDunn signed new orders reinstating her orders and canceling those of the presiding judge.

The Illinois Appellate Court, in scathing language, rebuked McDunn, accused her of bias, and voided all her orders, finalizing the lesbian couples' adoptions.

But Appellate Justice Robert Chapman Buckley, a courts commissioner, said Friday he was "embarrassed" by Zwick's opinion.

The commission did not say Friday whether its ruling was unanimous. That will be revealed when the commission issues its written ruling, said Chairman Justice Robert Thomas.