AUSTIN,
Texas (AP) — Parents seeking to adopt children in Texas could soon be rejected by
state-funded or private agencies with religious objections to them being
Jewish, Muslim, gay, single, or interfaith couples, under a proposal in the
Republican-controlled Legislature.
Five other
states have passed similar laws protecting faith-based adoption organizations
that refuse to place children with gay parents or other households on religious
grounds — but Texas' rule would extend to state-funded agencies. Only South
Dakota's is similarly sweepingly.
The bill had
been scheduled for debate and approval Saturday in the state House, but
lawmakers bogged down with other matters. It now is expected to come up next
week.
Republican
sponsors of Texas' bill say it is designed to support the religious freedom of
adoption agencies and foster care providers. Many of the agencies are private
and faith-based but receive state funds.
But
opponents say it robs children of stable homes while funding discrimination
with taxpayer dollars.
"This
would allow adoption agencies to turn away qualified, loving parents who are
perhaps perfect in every way because the agency has a difference in religious
belief," said Catherine Oakley, senior legislative counsel for the Human
Rights Campaign. "This goes against the best interest of the child."
The bill
also blatantly violates the Constitution, Oakley added.
"As a
governmental entity, Texas is bound to treat people equally under the
law," said Oakley. "This is a violation of equal protection under the
law."
State Rep.
James Frank, the bill's author, said it's designed to address the state's
foster care crisis by making "reasonable accommodations so everyone can
participate in the system."
"Everyone
is welcome. But you don't have to think alike to participate," said Frank,
a Republican from rural Wichita Falls, near Texas' border with Oklahoma.
Suzanne
Bryant, an Austin-based adoption attorney who works with LGBT clients and was
one of the first individuals to have a legal same-sex marriage in Texas, said
the bill fails to provide alternatives for prospective parents rebuffed by
adoption agencies.
"Say
you call an agency and say, 'I'm Jewish,' and it's a Catholic agency and they
hang up on you," said Bryant. "The bill says you can be referred to
another agency, but there's no mechanism to set that up."
Not only
could agencies turn away hopeful parents under the religious freedom provision,
but they could require children in the foster care system to comply with their
faith-based requirements, said Bryant.
That means
child welfare organizations could send LGBT kids to conversion therapy, a
treatment designed to turn people straight — which the Pan American Health
Organization calls a "serious threat to the health and well-being of
affected people." And they could deny young people contraception and
abortions.
"If a
17-year-old who is sexually active wants birth control, the burden to prove
that constitutional right is on the child," said Bryant. "They don't
have their parents advocating for them and supposed to go it alone against the
system."
More than
100 children died in Texas child protective services last year alone, when a
judge had already ruled that the system violated youngsters' constitutional
rights by leaving them more troubled when they left the system than when they
entered it. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott made fixing foster care an
"emergency" priority and the Legislature has increased funding while
backing a number of major changes.
Frank said
most adoptions happen through the state's Child Protective Services, which
would not be subject to the religious freedom mandate, though outside agencies
that receive state funding would be. He said his bill "codifies" the
choices adoption agencies are already making as they select parents.
"My guess
is if you have an LGBT agency they're going to pick an LGBT family, and if you
have a Baptist agency they may be more likely to pick a Baptist family,"
Frank said. "They're free to do that and should be free to do that."
Frank also
said the bill directs state child services to ensure that other outside
adoption providers without religious objections are made available to help
would-be adoptive parents who get turned away by any who do raise objections.
But his
proposal is just one of 24 pending bills in the Texas Legislature that LGBT
advocates say encourage discrimination.
AP
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