The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has unveiled the Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Family effort as part of its "All Children - All Families" initiative, which aims to ensure that all qualified prospective parents have the opportunity to provide permanent homes to children in need, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. HRC and coalition partners are working to increase the confidence and recognition of LGBT parents, who often feel discouraged or unwelcome by the system, and can be marginalized or overlooked altogether by child placement agencies. Some may not even be aware of the opportunities available.

"This awareness campaign helps make the dreams of thousands of children come true by raising the visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender-adoptive families and encourage prospective parents to learn more about the children waiting in foster care," said Ellen Kahn, Human Rights Campaign Foundation's Family Project Director, in a statement. "With over 100,000 children waiting to be adopted, we need to ensure that the LGBT community knows about the opportunity to adopt and find them agencies that truly welcome and support who they are as people."

Gay and lesbian parents are raising 4%, about 65,500, of the nation's adopted children, more commonly in New England, the mid-Atlantic and the West Coast. The highest percentages of gay and lesbian adoptive parents are found in Alaska, California, Massachusetts and New Mexico.

Florida is the only state with a law on the books to explicitly prohibit gays from adopting, but in Nebraska, a 1995 Department of Social Service directive blocks gay individuals and all unmarried couples. This month, Arkansas passed Initiative 1, which effectively meets the same ends by prohibiting all unmarried couples from fostering or adopting children. North Dakota allows child placement agencies to discriminate on moral and religious grounds, and Utah gives preference to married couples in placing children.

California, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey and New York prohibit discriminating against prospective parents based on sexual orientation. Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Washington D.C. do not factor in sexual orientation when considering the adoption of a spouse's child.

Frank Martin Gill of North Miami, Florida, has raised two brothers, ages 4 and 8, since 2004. He lodged a court challenge to the state's decades-old law preventing him from adopting them. "It is clear that sexual orientation is not a predictor of a person's ability to parent," Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman said in a 53-page Tuesday ruling, finding "no rational basis" for an automatic ban based on sexual orientation. Attorneys for the state plan to appeal.

A Key West judge found Florida's ban unconstitutional in September, but the ruling has had "limited legal impact."

"Judge Lederman’s ruling is a long-overdue recognition of the equal ability of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people to raise happy, healthy families," said Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director of Family Equality Council, in a statement. "Our families are members of communities in every state. We contribute at work and at school. We want only to be given the same opportunities and legal protections other families have so that we may best take care of ourselves. Florida's ban on all gays and lesbians adopting has long stood in the face of more than twenty-five years of social science research that shows no difference in the abilities of LGBT and straight parents."