Lawmakers in Michigan would like state-funded adoption agencies to have the “right” to refuse to let LGBT people adopt, for religious reasons. What will the governor say?
The Michigan Senate just passed three bills that effectively allows any adoption agency – including ones that are funded by the taxpayers – to refuse to do business with LGBT people based on that agency’s stated “sincerely held religious beliefs.”
Currently, those adoption agencies receive about $10 million annually via state and federal funds. On any given day in Michigan, about 14,000 children are in foster care, according to Equality Michigan.
Buzzfeed reports Senators brought the bills up in “an unexpected vote without appearing on the Senate’s daily agenda,” noting they approved the bills “by 26-to-12 votes.”
LOOK:Â Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Tells Lesbian Couple And Their Three Children: You Are Not A Family
The bills, HB 4188, HB 4189, and HB 4190, all passed the House in March. They are now headed to Republican Governor Rick Snyder‘s desk. He has not stated a position, but Snyder fought hard against legal attempts to strike down his state’s ban on same-sex marriage.
One of those Michigan court cases, Deboer v. Snyder, was brought in 2012 by two women, both pediatric emergency room nurses, who were able to adopt several special needs children, some of whom were not expected to live. Due to Michigan state law, the couple cannot jointly adopt the children, so one woman is the legal mother to two of the children, and the other is the legal mother to the other two.Â
NCRM profiled the women and their children in 2012. They adopted their fourth child in November.
That case is now one of the four that were heard in April by the U.S. Supreme Court.
UPDATE –
Some responses via Twitter:
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Related:
Gays Are Going To Hell Says State’s Expert Witness In Michigan Marriage Trial
Dissenting 6th Circuit Judge: Anti-Gay Marriage Ruling ‘Fails’ On ‘Constitutional Question’
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Image by Purple Sherbet Photography via Flickr and a CC license