Virginia’s
General Assembly is close to amending state law to allow any adoption
agency, including state-funded agencies, to turn away qualified adoptive
parents based on religious and moral beliefs, including sexual
orientation. The legislation codifies last year’s State Board of Social
Services regulation to allow faith-based organizations to reject
prospective parents based on gender, age, religion, disability, sexual
orientation and family status. While the prevailing debate mainly
focuses on faith-based convictions to join children with gay parents,
the sweeping language leaves room for further discrimination by private
agencies on the basis of religious and moral criteria of their choosing.
The
Virginia House of Delegates passed the enabling legislation, House Bill
189, last week and the Senate is expected to vote this week. Governor
Robert McDonnell has said he plans to sign the anti-gay adoption bill if
it reaches his desk. If passed, Virginia will join North Dakota as the
only two
states having
what is termed a “conscience clause” in law. This is in contrast to
nine states which explicitly prohibit this kind of discrimination in
adoption.Virginia state law already prohibits unmarried couples to
adopt, but does allow single people to adopt, regardless of sexual
orientation.
There
are approximately 1,300 children in Virginia are waiting to be adopted
and this law further limits the number of safe, loving and permanent
caregivers. CWLA has written a
letter to
the Virginia Senate that describes the harm the harm to children and
Virginia adoption efforts as a result of this law. Senator Kirsten
Gillibrand (D-NY) and Representative Pete Stark (D-CA) have proposed
addressing this at the federal level with the
Every Child Deserves a Family Act (S. 1770, H.R. 1681).
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