Same-sex couple among first to adopt

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – An attorney for a married lesbian couple says an adoption decree they received in Okmulgee County is believed to be among the first such same-sex adoptions in the state.

The Tulsa World reports that two young boys in state Department of Human Services care were adopted by two Tulsa women in a Dec. 19 proceeding conducted by Associate District Judge Duane Woodliff, who has since retired.

The women’s attorney, Terri Craig of Wagoner, says she has done adoptions for gay people before but they could never adopt as a couple.

In October, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear appeals in cases from Oklahoma and other states, leading to legal same-sex marriage. Craig says the state’s adoption code can be interpreted to allow adoptions by a married same-sex couple.