Jamal S. Adams

INTRODUCTION
Jamal S. Adams was born in San Francisco, California, in 1975.
He was a successful lawyer and had his own law office in New York by the time he was just 30 years old in 2005. He was known as one of the best lawyers in the United States and rarely lost any of his cases; this meant of course that he earned a lot of money from his profession. Apart from the fact that he was wealthy and talented at what he did, many people showed interest in his life due to the fact that he was homosexual.

Contents:

• Childhood
• Early Years
• Achievements
• Marriage
• Adopting an Orphan
• Court Trials
• Happy Ending



CHILDHOOD
Jamal Adams was raised by a good family that was wealthy and willing to give him everything, but mostly desired to give him an excellent education. His father, William Adams, was a respected man amongst society and very hard working. He had studied medicine at the University of St. Bernard in Italy and returned to the USA to raise a family and work in a hospital until he was able to have his independent office.
The first education he got was at San Fernando’s elementary school in San Francisco, in 1981. Growing up, Jamal showed strong interest in all his classes in school and his teachers were always talking about how talented and smart he was. They always supported him and congratulated his parents for his achievements at such a young age. The whole world was surprised to see how he stood up for the people he thought were being treated badly or were innocent of something they were being accused of doing. At the young age of 11 (1986) he auditioned for the lead character in a theatre play called “The Secret”. He didn’t manage to take the lead so he took the part of the homosexual judge in the play. Surprisingly this role didn’t disturb him at all; instead he did very well performing it and was well known after the show. He led people to believe he was suitable to study in the area of law because of how well he had slipped into the role he was assigned. “It was almost as if he really was accusing someone of murder!” said Sara Black, in one of the interviews that was done for the play, “Truly amazing!”
After that first play he decided to enrol in a drama club, “The International School of Arts” but he soon interrupted his lessons there due to the death of his mother, Anne Adams, in November 1987.




EARLY YEARS
Jamal graduated high school at Eastwood High in 1993 and was accepted in multiple universities but decided to complete his studies at Harvard Law School which happened to be one of the best universities at the time. About a year later he was facing some changes through himself that put him in a sudden state of depression. Adams was fighting against nature and himself. He realised that he was “different” from all the other men at the university, and he had noticed this difference during his High School years as well. The problem was that he wasn’t attracted to women in any way a man is expected to; Jamal was gay. Learning to accept this was not easy for the young man and he had to go to hundreds of conferences and made a countless number of appointments with therapists that attempted to help him. After 14 months of therapy Jamal was struggling to face himself, society, and his school work. He was never a boy who gave up though and he kept on trying until he escaped from the terrible prison he was inside with the help of a friend. The person who helped Jamal was Jeff Harrison, another student studying at Harvard. The two had spent much time together and Jeff had convinced Jamal that being the way he was, was not a disadvantage to his life. Before they finished their studies they were in love and decided to graduate (1999) and move in together.


ACHIEVEMENTS
After Jamal graduated he found a temporary job at a law firm which was called “Clarkson’s Law Firm” in New York; meanwhile Jeff was working at his father’s estate company in Manhattan. Jamal was very successful in almost all his clients’ trials and always tried to be fair about the case. Soon enough in 2002 he was running his own law firm “Adams lawyers NY, State Law Firm”. Many people trusted his law firm and all went well for him in the first years of his new business.


MARRIAGE
On the 13th of February 2004 Jamal Adams and Jeff Harrison got married in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the only Gay Chapel in Vegas. The two were very happy together and had made many plans for their future. They were not affected by the paparazzi gossip, especially Jeff, since his partner was one of the greatest lawyers in the United States. Jeff’s positive spirit though was not enough to keep people from being disrespectful and somewhat afraid that the famous Jamal Adams was attracted to the same sex! So, Jamal’s law firm had lost some very good clients and this made Jamal angry. His anger was not because of the loss of money, but because he strongly disagreed that he should be treated differently just because he chose something else than the ordinary.


ADOPTING AN ORPHAN
After a year of disrespect and criticism from society, Jamal decided to take action and he was determined to prove that homosexuals had as many rights and deserved as much respect as any other couple would. His idea was to go through trial and adopt a child. Of course he already knew how difficult and complicated this would be; even so he proceeded with his idea and aimed to achieve his goal. He thought that this would be like some sort of voice for all homosexuals in the world. The first thing him and his partner Jeff did was visit an orphanage in New York City called “St. Mary’s”. The lady in charge of the orphanage, Julia Mendes, seemed thrilled with their idea and was willing to help them although she was aware of the complications that would follow this request in court.


COURT TRIALS
The couple was dragged in and out of court and was exhausted by the time they made it to their last trial. Previous meetings and trials went relatively well at first but things got rougher as the end was coming. The last audition in court they attended was exasperating. The trial took place in a court house in Florida called “The Old Orange County Courthouse” and after a handful of evidence and the help of Julia Mendes and some of her attorneys they managed to win the case! Jamal’s success had a drastic influence on present day homosexual individuals and their rights.

HAPPY ENDING
People today support Jamal and Jeff internationally and they are famous around the whole world, but that was not what is important to them. The thing that matters the most to them is the new member of their family a little girl called “Gracie Adams Harrison”. She is 8 years old and as she has reported many times in her interviews she is very happy that she was adopted by these two fine gentlemen. They all live happily in New York City and in 2007 Jamal and his family are planning to take up the responsibility of raising another child.

References:
 http://www.homosexualsrights.org
 http://www.standup4u.com
 http://www.courthouses.com
 http://www.justiceforall.org
 http://www.adoptingrights.com



External Links:
 http://www.jamaladams.com
 http://www.adamslawfirm.org
 http://www.harrison.com
 http://www.gaymiracles.com
 http://www.itworks.org


See Also:
Homosexuality, GAY, Historic Trials.