Florida Joining the 21st Century ? ? ? ?

What's goin' on down in Florida since we left?

From McClatchy yesterday:

Poll: Florida gay marriage ban falling short of needed margin

Mary Ellen Klas | Miami Herald

September 08, 2008

TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Charlie Crist continues to ride high job approval ratings, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University, but the luck's not as good for the ballot amendment he supports -- the measure to ban gay marriages.

Florida voters are satisfied with the governor's performance, with 61 percent saying they have a favorable view of Crist, compared to 25 percent who say he's doing a poor job. But he isn't on the ballot this year and the proposal on the November ballot to enshrine in the state Constitution a definition that marriage is between a man and a woman falls short of the 60 percent approval threshold.

Voters support Amendment 2 by 55-41 percent, with Republicans favoring it 76-21 percent while Democrats oppose it 51-45 percent.

And now today, also from McClatchy:

Florida court strikes down 31-year ban on gay adoptions

Carol Marbin Miller | Miami Herald

September 09, 2008

A Monroe Circuit Court judge has ruled that Florida's 31-year-old gay adoption ban is ''unconstitutional'' in an order that allows an openly gay Key West foster parent to adopt a teenage boy he has raised since 2001.

Declaring the adoption to be in the boy's ''best interest,'' Circuit Judge David J. Audlin Jr. said the Florida law forbidding gay people from adopting children is contrary to the state Constitution because it singles out a group for punishment.

Florida is one of only two states — the other is Mississippi — that forbids gay people from adopting.

Circuit judges in Florida have found the statute unconstitutional twice before, both in 1991, but both challenges stalled. A Miami case expected to be heard next month may provide an additional challenge to the law.

Maybe we should have left sooner.

Hey, it's not like we didn't try to . . . .