Nation's Last Gay Adoption Ban Falls

Mississippi officials -- known for never missing an opportunity to disenfranchise LGBT citizens -- have failed to file an appeal of a recent federal court ruling striking down its ban on same-sex couples adopting children, meaning the 16-year-old ban is no more, BuzzFeed reports. Mississippi's prohibition was the nation's last such ban.

Mississippi's adoption ban was struck down in March following a lawsuit from four same-sex couples, joined by the Campaign for Southern Equality and the Family Equality Council. In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel P. Jordan III cited the landmark 2015 Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.

"It also seems highly unlikely that the same court that held a state cannot ban gay marriage because it would deny benefits -- expressly including the right to adopt -- would then conclude that married gay couples can be denied that very same benefit," Jordan wrote. He then ordered Mississippi's Department of Human Services to cease enforcing the ban. Same-sex couples will now be able to help address the state's "beleaguered" foster care system, which was nearly taken over by a federal judge.

Roberta Kaplan (pictured, above), the legendary LGBT rights attorney who helped bring down the Defense of Marriage Act, was lead attorney on the Mississippi adoption case.

While the end of the adoption ban is happy news for Mississippi's LGBT residents, the state recently passed a "religious liberty" law that allows businesses and service providers to turn away LGBT people if they object to them on religious grounds.