A judge in Utah has ordered a lesbian couple to give up the infant foster child they were caring for, reportedly telling them that the girl would be better off living with a straight couple, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Beckie Peirce, 34, and her wife, April Hoagland, 38, say they were taken aback on Tuesday when 7th District Court Juvenile Judge Scott Johansen ordered the girl removed from their care and placed in another home within seven days.
"He said through his research he had found out that kids in ... homosexual homes don't do as well as they do in heterosexual homes," Hoagland said in a Reuters video.
Johansen was questioned about that research by the Utah Division of Child and Family Services but provided no specifics, the couple said.
Mandie Torgerson, an attorney representing the baby's biological mother, also said Johansen did not cite the research he referred to, saying only that "myriad" studies support his order.