Virginia Gay Adoption Debate Heats Up With New Legislation Proposal

At the General Assembly in Richmond, Virginia, a battle is heating up over whether adoption agencies should be allowed to discriminate against prospective parents based on their sexual orientation.

Senator Adam Ebbin has introduced legislation which would not allow Virginia to fund or contract adoption agencies who discriminate against prospective parents on the basis of ‘race, religion, national origin, sex, age, family status, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.’

Comments

[rbmckinney]

04:14 PM on 01/23/2012

I cannot find it at the moment, but there are new adoption regulations that actually allow this type of discrimination, as well as that based on politics; this bill apparently overturns this regulation--which is patently unconstitutional under both the Virginia and federal Constitutions. I don't know if the Republican-controlled General Assembly will have the sense to pass it (after all, they have, as he first bill, a wretched personhood statute), however it would save the state a lot of money to pass it. The Attorney General will have to spend a lot of time in litigation to try to uphold it.

[BobSF94117]

03:23 PM on 01/23/2012

Progress in Virginia. My, my. The end of my three-decade-old boycott of that otherwise great state may be in sight.

[cleansociety]

01:35 PM on 01/23/2012

There are so many kids that need a loving home. Take a look at some of these adoption statistics
http://www.statisticbrain.com/adoption-statistics/

There are over 400,000 children in the foster care system.

[TeraWatt60]

06:21 PM on 01/22/2012

I hope this bill passes, I doubt it since large areas of Virginia are home to child abusers who instill fear and b.igotry in their kids and call it religiosity

[Captain Yesterday]

12:00 PM on 01/22/2012

Thank you, Senator Ebbin, for being a voice of reason and tolerance and taking a stand against bigotry.

[mjcc1987]

09:22 AM on 01/22/2012

I live in Virginia. This will be defeated and we will see opposite bills inculcating into laws bans on gay adoptions. We will see a religious exemption for bullying. All the cr#p we've seen elsewhere will come here and with a "majority" they will pass. Guns for fetuses, defunding planned parenthood, restrictive voting, more anti-gay legislation, anti-brown, anti-moooooooooooslim. Hate and fear will run rampant in Virginia and with a criminally incompetent State Democratic Party, it will win.

It appears Virginia lags in the loon cycle. Where other states have woken up, we here are still napping.

[Captain Yesterday]

12:01 PM on 01/22/2012

All I can say is, it's never a bad thing to speak out against intolerance and abuse, even if it is ultimately doomed to fail. Baby steps are better than standing still.

[Olethea]

09:17 AM on 01/22/2012

Churches can continue to be bigoted and hypocritical as they want (scandal, anyone?).

They just can't use taxpayer money to do it.

It will be a good day for humanity when these corrupt institutions finaly disappear.

[playflute2]

09:10 AM on 01/22/2012

Did any commentors who are raising hob read the very short article. Senator Ebbin is one of the good guys. The bill is to make sure funds ARE NOT given to adoption agencies that discriminate against folk for multiple reasons; one of those reasons being sexual orientation. Here in Va. at present a gay couple cannot legally adopt a child as a couple.

[Carl E Cook]

08:01 PM on 01/22/2012

why should mentally ill people be allowed to adopt a child? when my aunt and uncle wanted to adopt 40 years ago, they had to jump through hoops. bottom line is that a child should have the right to grow up with and know the love of a mother and father, not a daddy and a daddy..........

[James Fair]

08:31 PM on 01/22/2012

Children have the right to be raised by a parent(s) who will love and nuture them. Homosexuals are not mentally ill, and you have no evidence of that. Gay parents still have to jump through the same hoops and more to adopt.

[playflute2]

10:38 PM on 01/22/2012

Sorry that you feel that way Carl. And, oh, by the way, homosexuality has not been considered a mental illness for many, many years. Perhaps educating yourself might be in order.

[VagabondBull]

05:01 AM on 01/22/2012

Wait a minute. They're debating whether or not discrimination against people in adoption is ok? What year is it again, 1952?

[AgentXY]

04:48 AM on 01/22/2012

They introduce a FEDERAL LAW that bans discrimination on adoption in this COUNTRY .

[92102]

04:28 AM on 01/22/2012

No, Virginia, there is no Santa Claus.

These are the same folks that still call the Civil War the "War of Northern Aggression".

[AngryHarpy]

02:15 AM on 01/22/2012

I just moved out of Virginia last year and I'm glad to not be paying any taxes to a state with such horrible legislators and politicians in the pocket of special-interest anti-gay groups.

Why would anyone deny the right of a loving person or couple to adopt an unwanted child? Can someone explain that to me?

[lilbree688]

09:06 AM on 01/22/2012

I totally agree with you, and personally I find that gays are usually the nicest people you will ever meet.!

[Carl E Cook]

08:03 PM on 01/22/2012

because a child, having no say, should be allowed to experience natural biological rearing by a mother----a female.....and a father-----a male.

[AngryHarpy]

10:41 PM on 01/22/2012

Um, do you have any idea how many children go un-adopted each year? You act as if there are heterosexual couples on waiting lists to adopt all of the unwanted children in America.

[MoeB]

12:04 PM on 01/23/2012

They've been put up for adoption, genius, so they won't be experiencing a "natural" (see biological parents) child-rearing process. Further, they are currently waiting for adoption, so, if no hetero parents adopt them, they STILL won't experience a "natural" upbringing.

Unless you can prove, scientifically, that leaving children as wards of the state, or leaving them in adoption centers until they age out is BETTER than having them raised by loving, gay parents, you just sound like an ignorant bigot.

[scooman]

01:10 AM on 01/22/2012

Hmmm, and the Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church are considered fit parents and gays are questionable?

[DevonTexas]

08:12 PM on 01/21/2012

Good parents are good parents... regardless of gender, race, religion, etc. If an agency has a political agenda, they shouldn't be paid by the state or Feds for their services.

[bearchao]

05:06 PM on 01/21/2012

"Senator Adam Ebbin has introduced legislation which would not allow Virginia to fund or contract adoption agencies who discriminate against prospective parents on the basis of ‘race, religion, national origin, sex, age, family status, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity."

Cue the outrage from Catholic Charities, in 5, 4, 3...

[David Silvey]

06:31 PM on 01/21/2012

It's never a matter of religion with the Catholic Church. It is a matter of money ... Always has been... always will be.

[bearchao]

07:22 PM on 01/21/2012

True, that! Yet this legislation will, no doubt, be seen by them as an infringement on their "Freedom of Religion". I can hear it now. What they won't acknowledge, publicly at least, is that their right to discriminate is not affected--they'll just have to do it on their own dime.
Please, Virginia, PASS THIS BILL!

[Olethea]

09:23 AM on 01/22/2012

It's amazing to me that Catholic Charities depends on the government for over 60% of its revenue, and it's own constituents contribute less than 10%. Why do we even need this institution? I would much rather see that money go directly from the government to the people.

http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/document.doc?id=2853