Utah Governor Gary Herbert said
Thursday that he disagrees with a juvenile court judge who ordered a
baby removed from a married lesbian couple's care.
Judge Scott Johansen ordered the baby
placed with a heterosexual couple and reportedly told the women that
“kids in homosexual homes don't do as well as they do in
heterosexual homes.”
Foster parents April Hoagland and
Beckie Peirce, who have been raising the baby girl for three months
and hoped to adopt her, told CBS
affiliate KUTV that they were “shattered.”
At his monthly press conference,
Herbert told reporters that the judge should “follow the law.”
“I expect the court and the judge to
follow the law,” Herbert said. “Laws, sometimes people don't
like, but the judge should not interject his own personal beliefs and
feelings and supersede the law.”
Utah Division of Child and Family
Services (DCFS) said in a press release that it would challenge the
decision and has asked Judge Johansen to rescind his order.
DCFS said that Johansen went against
its recommendation that the women should keep the baby.