In a breakthrough for same-sex couples, the Supreme Court decided in a 7-2 ruling Monday that two lesbian women who have been living together for 15 years are allowed to adopt each other's children.

"The court must view things from the perspective of welfare of the child," the couple's attorney said...

..."It is good that there are judges in Jerusalem, and good that they are more advanced than the public's representatives in the government and Knesset," Yahad MK Yossi Sarid said. "Parental rights must be preserved for every couple, without excluding the many homosexual and lesbian couples."

Shinui MK Ilan Liebowitch said the court decision was "a brave step that reveals a degree of enlightenment that is not possessed by the government or Knesset."

The New Family organization - a legal advocacy group which focuses on gay couples, as well as single parents, families of foreign workers, and other groups it considers to be treated unfairly under Israeli family law - called court decision "revolutionary."

"One speaks of a revolution in the legal world more than in the real world, because the reality has existed for a decade or more," the organization said in an announcement following the ruling. "We hope the court will remove all obstacles faced by the homosexual and lesbian community."