Campaign for Southern Equality v. Mississippi Department of Human Services

ORDER

Daniel P. Jordan III, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Plaintiffs seek a declaration that Mississippi Code section 93-17-3(5) — which prohibits adoption by married gay couples— violates the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the United States Constitution. They named as defendants the Mississippi Department of Human Services (“DHS”), DHS’s Executive Director, three chancery courts, nine chancellors from those three courts, and Mississippi’s Governor and Attorney General.

Defendants have offered a tepid defense of the statute itself, focusing instead on Plaintiffs’ right to sue them.…