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<\/p>\nAlabama Enacts Hateful Anti-LGBT Adoption Law<\/b><\/p>\n
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Republican Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama has signed HB24 into law, the Orwellian-named Alabama Child Placing Agency Inclusion Act, which would shield adoption agencies who engage in discrimination against LGBTQ adoptive parents<\/a> from state repercussions.<\/p>\n While bill sponsor Rep. Rich Wingo (R-Tuscaloosa) claimed that this would prevent religious adoption agencies from having to shut down for\u00a0following their beliefs, colleague and LGBT advocate Rep. Patricia Todd demurred: \u201cThis bill obviously came about because same-sex<\/a> marriage was approved. It\u2019s based on a stereotype. And it\u2019s wrong. And we shouldn\u2019t discriminate and I will always fight that.\u201d\u00a0The bill explicitly\u00a0excludes those adoption agencies that receive state or federal funding from its protection, a tacit admission that it would otherwise be a full-fledged state-sanctioned license to discriminate.<\/p>\n The Human Rights Campaign registered its chagrin\u00a0at the measure\u2019s passage<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cWe are deeply disappointed that the legislature and the governor took on this unnecessary, discriminatory bill instead of focusing on how to improve the lives of all Alabamians, no matter who they are or whom they love,\u201d said Eva Kendrick, HRC Alabama state director. \u201cThe intent of this law is clear: to discriminate, causing the most harm to children in Alabama\u2019s child welfare system. It\u2019s time our lawmakers \u2014 from the legislature to the Governor\u2019s Mansion \u2014 stop using LGBTQ people as pawns to win cheap political points.\u201d<\/p>\n Statistics show that the pool\u00a0of potential adoptive parents has grown as it increasingly includes\u00a0same-sex couples<\/a>:<\/p>\n A 2007 report from the Williams Institute estimated that 2 million gay<\/a> and lesbian<\/a> parents are interested in adoption. About half of gay<\/a> men<\/a> and two-fifths of lesbians<\/a> want a child. Four percent of America\u2019s adopted children are being raised by gay<\/a> parents, and three percent of foster children live<\/a> with gay<\/a> parents.<\/p>\n While studies on LGBT parents are limited due to the limited number of LGBT parents, research has found that children raised in homes with same-sex<\/a> parents are not negatively impacted as a result. The Williams Institute cites several nationally accredited organizations that have recognized \u201cthat sexual orientation should not be a determinative factor in assessing the ability of individuals to raise children through adoption, foster care, or second parent adoptions.\u201d<\/p>\n Among these organizations are the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, American Psychoanalytic Association, American Psychological Association and Child Welfare League of America.<\/p>\n This seemingly positive development has been marred by similar laws that go out\u00a0of their way to exclude LGBTQ parents from adopting under the guise of religious freedom, which have been passed in other states\u00a0such as Georgia<\/a> as well as South Dakota<\/a>.<\/p>\n The post Alabama Enacts Hateful Anti-LGBT Adoption Law<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n