Texas is at it again. Just days after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a racist “show me your papers” law that puts a target squarely on the backs of millions of immigrant and Latino residents, the state house approved legislation that would protect state-funded adoption and foster care agencies from lawsuits stemming from discrimination against LGBTQ couples, non-Christian couples, and unmarried applicants. State agencies already “routinely deny” such applications, notes TPM. Now state Republicans want to give them permission to do it without fear of repercussions:
The private organizations, which are paid by the state to place foster children with adoptive families, want to continue the practice and are seeking legal protections through Texas’ “Freedom to Serve Children Act,” which the GOP-controlled chamber approved 94-51 late Tuesday night.
A final vote will be needed Wednesday to send the measure to the state Senate, which is even more conservative.
The bill would be the nation’s second allowing state-funded adoption agencies to reject families on religious grounds. South Dakota passed similar legislation in March but it’s too soon to measure its practical effects. While the Texas proposal may not pass constitutional muster, that hasn’t stopped the state’s lawmakers before, who have in recent years approved a voter ID law and abortion restrictions that were overturned in court.
The bill’s author claims that his legislation offers alternatives to rejected couples because it “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 as the ACLU of Texas notes, this attempted loophole may not matter anyway, because these agencies run thanks in part to taxpayer funding:
“When Texans come to the table, the government has to treat all Texans the same. This is state-sponsored discrimination.”
An even more deplorable fact is that this legislation would also subject LGBTQ kids “in the foster care system to comply with an agency’s faith-based requirements,” noted Towleroad, “which could include conversion therapy.” “Ex-gay therapy,” as it’s more commonly known, is a harmful, debunked practice that has been condemned by “every mainstream medical and mental health organization for decades” and banned in seven U.S. states so far.
According to The Guardian, “more than 100 children died in Texas child protective services last year, 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.” And remember that this hateful, discriminatory, and possibly unconstitutional legislation is all being done under the guise of protecting children. Right.
According to the Texas ACLU, there are more than 22,000 kids in the state who are waiting to be placed in loving homes. Bigoted elected officials in the legislature may claim to be all about family values, but it’s clear they would prefer to keep kids without the love and stability of a family than risk the chance of handing them over to loving parents that just happen to be of the same sex or non-Christian. Texas, this is a disgrace.