The Florida House Judiciary Committee just passed a bill that would allow adoption agencies to openly-discriminate against same-sex couples on religious grounds.
Thursday morning the Republican-majority Florida House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would expressly allow open anti-gay discrimination on religious grounds by adoption agencies that are funded with taxpayer dollars.
The bill, HB 7111, applies to private child-placing agencies, stating they are “not required to perform, assist in, recommend, consent to, or participate in the placement of a child when the proposed placement would violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.”
It adds, “The state or a local government or community-based care lead agency may not withhold a grant, contract, or participation in a government program from a private child-placing agency because of the agency’s refusal to perform, assist in, recommend, consent to, or participate in the placement of a child which violates the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.”
Equality Florida, which has been lobbying against HB 7111, calls it a “hastily written bill” that was “introduced mid-session, in response to the House unexpectedly voting to eliminate Florida’s ban on gay and lesbian adoptions. The ban had not been enforced since 2010, when an appellate court ruled it unconstitutional, but it remains on the books. Indiana lawmakers were similarly motivated, introducing their bill as a counter to gay couples marrying.”
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Image by Elvert Barnes via Flickr and a CC license
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