JANUARY 15, 2020 BY MICHAEL STONE
Christian hate: A new law in Tennessee will allow adoption agencies to discriminate against gay parents looking to adopt children needing a home.
Nashville Tennessean reports:
The Tennessee state Senate started the 2020 legislative session passing its first bill of the year: a controversial measure that protects religious adoption agencies if they choose to discriminate against same-sex couples.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Paul Rose, R-Covington, declares that no licensed adoption agency would be required to participate in a child placement if doing so would “violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.”
NBC News reports that Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has already announced that he will sign the legislation into law that will allow adoption agencies to “exclude LGBT families and others based on religious beliefs.”
LGBTQ Nation reports on the new law, noting:
[The new law] would allow adoption agencies to refuse to work with families if they claim that working with those families would “violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.”
In other words, adoption agencies in Tennessee will be free to discriminate against gays, atheists, and any other “undesirables” who fail to conform to the dictates of conservative Christianity. And, as always, it will be the children who suffer.
Reacting to the new legislation, the Human Rights Campaign issued a statement noting:
The biggest barrier to placing children with families is a lack of qualified prospective parents; having the state give contractors and subcontractors a license to discriminate, thereby limiting the pool of prospective parents for no legitimate reason, is unconscionable and an unacceptable use of taxpayer dollars.
The draconian legislation was passed along partisan lines, with only one GOP state senator joining all the Democrats in opposing the discriminatory bill. State Senator Steve Dickerson of Nashville was the lone Republican in opposition.
Commenting on the effect this would have on children waiting for homes, Dickerson said:
I expect that waiting list to increase somewhat.
Dickerson also added that the new law would have a detrimental effect on the state economy, since many companies will refuse to do business in a state that willfully harms children in the name of religious superstition and bigotry. Dickerson said:
This will have a direct fiscal impact on the state, not to mention the humanitarian impact and emotional impact on those children who … will now be in a foster setting for a longer time.
Bottom line: In the name of Christian hatred and bigotry a new law in Tennessee will allow adoption agencies to discriminate against gay parents. And, as always, it will be the children who suffer. Can you feel the Christian love?
