On Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee passed an amendment saying that taxpayer-funded adoption agencies could deny same-sex adoptions based on religious objection. Excuse me while I scream into my pillow in frustration.
According to LGBTQ Nation:
The amendment appears on a funding bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. If it remains in the final bill, the amendment would cut 15% of federal adoption funding to states and localities that penalize adoption agencies that refuse to place children in families that conflict with the agency’s “sincerely held religious beliefs or convictions.”
So as long as you sincerely believe that homosexuals are evil and will burn in the fires of Hell for all time, then you are allowed to discriminate against same-sex couples looking to adopt, and, this amendment also bars federal workers from refusing to work with discriminator agencies. I’m so glad that the government is working so hard to protect the religious freedoms of bigots.
Nothing says “family values” like keeping children from loving, healthy homes because of homophobia. Although can we really be surprised that the hyper-partisan Republicans of the Trump Era want to keep children away from parents?
The committee passed this amendment 29-23, the vote going along party lines, with Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA) serving the lone dissenting Republican to vote against the amendment.
“House Republicans are pandering to their far-right base at the expense of LGBTQ people and children in need of a home,” said Democratic National Committee (DNC) LGBTQ Media Director Lucas Acosta.
Amendments like this are a reminder that being “Pro-Life” is bullshit if you don’t actually care about the needs of children when they are alive. And spare me concern about their spiritual needs because you know what kills your spirit? Not being adopted by a loving family.
In addition to same-sex couples, this amendment will also impact “interfaith couples, single parents, married couples in which one prospective parent has previously been divorced, or other qualified parents to whom an agency could have an objection.”
Currently, nine states already have laws like these on the books that allow child welfare agencies receiving taxpayer funding to discriminate against LGBTQ youth and families: Alabama, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia. Five of these bills have been passed within the last two years.
According to data from the Family Equality Council’s Every Child Deserves a Family campaign, more than 21,000 young people were awaiting adoption in those states. Statistics have suggested that an estimated two million LGBTQ adults in the U.S. are interested in adoption.
Every single child waiting to be adopted in one of those states could have been potentially been adopted or fostered by an LGBTQ family or single parent.
Also what about kids up for adoption or foster who are themselves queer?
According to research LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in the foster care system, due to being rejected by their family because of their sexuality. Now some organizations that should be finding them homes are going to make religious based judgments about them, yet again.
For those looking for an inclusive agency to adopt/foster, AdoptUsKids is very inclusive and provides support to LGBTQ families who are seeking to foster or adopt children.
(via LGBTQ Nation, image: Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
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