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The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a state law preventing gay couples from getting birth certificates for children adopted in other states is unconstitutional. 
The Adoption Invalidation Law, hastily passed at the end of the 2004 Oklahoma legislative session, had said that Oklahoma “shall not recognize an adoption by more than one individual of the same sex from any other state or foreign jurisdiction.”  Although single gays may become the parent of adoptive children in Oklahoma, same-sex couples were barred from adopting and the state could invalidate adoptions where couples have been awarded joint parenting rights in states where co-adoption is legal.
Lambda Legal, representing same-sex couples, took the state to court. Lambda represented two same-sex couples and their families who adopted children while living in other states and later moved to Oklahoma or wanted to visit the state with their family.  Lambda Legal argued that the law was unconstitutional based on the United States Constitution’s guarantees of equal protection, due process and right to travel, as well as the mandates of the Full Faith and Credit Clause. 

“The very fact that the adoptions have occurred is evidence that a court of law has found the adoptions to be in the best interests of the children,” wrote U. S. District Judge Robin Cauthron.

In 2006, U.S. District Court Judge Robin Cauthron agreed, finding that the statute violated the United States Constitution by singling out a specific group for discrimination.  Now the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Cauthron’s ruling and declared Oklahoma’s law unconstitutional.  (Likewise, in 2004, Oklahoma’s own Attorney General gave an official opinion that the law would violate the Ninth Amendment.)
In a 31 page ruling, the court was highly critical of the state legislature for passing the law.  “The very fact that the adoptions have occurred is evidence that a court of law has found the adoptions to be in the best interests of the children,” wrote Cauthron.  “To now attempt to strip a child of one of his or her parents seems far removed from the statute’s purpose and therefore from [the state’s] asserted important government objective.”
“Gay and lesbian parents in Oklahoma can now breathe a collective sigh of relief because their relationships with their children are no longer threatened by the state of Oklahoma,” said Lambda attorney Ken Upton. “We’re gratified that justice has been handed down in our case and that the court saw to it that Oklahoma has to treat the children of gay and lesbian parents the same as all other kids.”