( CNN ) -- A Florida circuit judge Tuesday struck down a 31-year-old state law that prevents gays and lesbians from adopting children , allowing a North Miami man to adopt two half-brothers he and his partner have raised as foster children since 2004 . Martin Gill looks on as a judge overturns a ban preventing gays and lesbians from adopting children . `` There is no question , the blanket exclusion of gay applicants defeats Florida 's goal of providing dependent children a permanent family through adoption , '' Judge Cindy S. Lederman wrote in her 53-page ruling . `` The best interests of children are not preserved by prohibiting homosexual adoption . '' The state attorney general 's office has appealed the decision . Lederman said there is no moral or scientific reason for banning gays and lesbians from adopting , despite the state 's arguments otherwise . The state argued that gays and lesbians have higher odds of suffering from depression , affective and anxiety disorders and substance abuse , and that their households are more unstable . Lederman said the ban violated children 's right to permanency provided under the Florida statute and under the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 . Whether the ban violated the state 's equal protection clause by singling out gays and lesbians should be considered , she said . Lederman 's ruling paves the way for Martin Gill to legally adopt the two half-brothers , ages 4 and 8 , whom he has cared for since December 2004 , the American Civil Liberties Union said . The two boys , who are referred to as John and James Doe in court documents , were removed from their homes on allegations of abandonment and neglect . `` On that December evening , John and James left a world of chronic neglect , emotional impoverishment and deprivation to enter a new world , foreign to them , that was nurturing , safe , structured and stimulating , '' Lederman wrote . In 2006 , the children 's respective fathers ' rights were terminated , court documents said , and they remained in the care of Gill and his partner . `` Our family just got a lot more to be thankful for this Thanksgiving , '' Gill said Tuesday , according to the ACLU , which represented him . Florida is the only state that specifically bans all `` homosexual '' people from adopting children , although it does allow them to be foster parents . This month , Arkansas voters approved a ballot measure to prohibit unmarried partners -- same-sex or opposite-sex couples -- from adopting children or from serving as foster parents . The measure is similar to one in Utah , which excludes same-sex couples indirectly through a statute barring all unmarried couples from adopting or taking in foster children . Mississippi allows single gays and lesbians to adopt , but prohibits same-sex couples from adopting . Neal Skene , spokesman for the Florida Department of Children and Families , said the appeal was filed so a statewide resolution on the law could be determined by an appellate court . He noted that another Florida circuit judge declared the law unconstitutional this year but that ruling had not been appealed . `` We need a statewide determination by the appellate courts , '' he said . Gill 's adoption petition can not be approved until the appeal process is finished , Skene said , but the children will remain in Gill 's home . `` These are wonderful foster parents , '' Skene said . `` It 's just that we have a statute , [ and ] the statute is very clear on the issue of adoption . '' Several organizations -- including the National Adoption Center , the American Medical Association , the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics -- have said that having gay and lesbian parents does not negatively affect children . The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute , a nonprofit organization that studies adoption and foster care , hailed the decision . `` This ban , which was the only one of its kind in the country , has done nothing but undermine the prospects of boys and girls in the foster care system to get permanent , loving homes , '' said Adam Pertman , the Adoption Institute 's executive director , in a written statement . `` So this decision by Judge Lederman is a very important , hopeful ruling for children who need families . ''
NEW : Ruling clears way for North Miami residents to adopt two half - brothers . NEW : Florida attorney general 's office said it intends to intervene . Judge says Florida law banning gays from adopting children is unconstitutional . Florida is only state specifically banning all ` ` homosexual '' people from adopting .