[JURIST] A French court on Tuesday ordered the country's government to extend adoption rights to a gay woman. The court held that French adoption law [Article VIII French Civil Code], which currently allows single people to adopt children but bars same-sex partners from doing so, illegally discriminates [Le Monde report, in French] against homosexuals. In 1998, a woman identified only as Emmanuelle B. attempted to adopt a child as an individual, but did not hide the fact that she had a same-sex partner. The French government denied her application numerous times on the basis of her homosexuality. Tuesday's ruling, which overturned a lower court decision, is in line with a 2008 European Court of Human Rights [official website] ruling [judgment text], which held that France's adoption law discriminates against homosexuals in violation of the European Convention on Human Rights [text]. The French government expressed disagreement [Le Monde report, in French] with Tuesday's decision, but said it would comply with the ruling.

Last year, a Florida court declared unconstitutional [JURIST report] a law barring adoption by same-sex partners. In 2007, Tony Blair announced that a British law prohibiting discrimination against same-sex couples [JURIST report] in the adoption process would apply to all adoption services in the UK. In 2006, a federal judge ruled [JURIST report] that an Oklahoma statute barring same-sex couples from adopting violated the US Constitution.