The state had no explicit regulations with respect to foster care and parenting by gays and lesbians, either singly or in relationships, until, on May 24, 1985, the state Department of Social Services, with the approval of Governor Michael Dukakis, created a rule that foster children be placed in "traditional family settings". In December 1986, a commission that reviewed the foster care system recommended that sexual orientation could not be used to disqualify foster parents. As Dukakis delayed accepting that recommendation, advocates for gay and lesbian rights threatened protests against his presidential campaign. The ban on gay foster parents was enacted into law in the 1989 budget. After a lawsuit challenging the ban was settled out of court, the Dukakis administration withdrew the policy in April 1990. In the 1990s, court decisions further expanded the parenting rights of gays and lesbians. In September 1993, the state's highest court ruled that state law allowed for second-parent adoption by a parent of the same sex as a biological parent. In July 1999, the same court awarded visitation rights to each of two mothers after their separation.