Call your state Senator and Governor Rick Snyder NOW and ask them to say NO to discriminatory RFRA-type legislation.
It will only take two minutes of your time today to help Michigan children and families for years to come.
The Michigan Senate is expected to vote today (June 10) on a package of discriminatory adoption bills that have already passed the House.
House Bills 4188, 4189 and 4190 would allow child placement agencies to discriminate against families who want to adopt or become foster parents on the basis of the agencies’ “firmly held religious beliefs.” The bills do not include any provisions to protect the best interests of children — only the interests of adoption agencies. There are 13,000 children in Michigan in foster care and in need of a forever home at any given time, and these bills would make it harder for loving families to adopt them.
Most at risk are the children, and LGBT people who are clearly the targets of this legislation. But people of faiths different from those of the adoption agencies and just about anyone else could be discriminated against under these bills, which are expected to pass the Senate — especially since the Michigan Senate is bypassing a Judiciary Committee hearing and move to a full vote of the Senate today.
After a vote in the Senate the bills would head to the desk of Governor Rick Snyder, who has previously promised to veto so-called “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (RFRA) legislation, which is exactly what these bills are. They are designed to protect faith-based adoption agencies — which receive state funding — who feel that serving people who don’t comply with the agency’s religious beliefs is a burden on their religious freedom. But the burden is entirely on the children and families who would be harmed by this discriminatory legislation.
There is no time to wait. Use this quick contact form from Freedom Michigan to rush an urgent message to your Senator and Governor Snyder.
You can also contact your state Senator immediately and ask for a NO vote on this package of discriminatory bills. Then pick up the phone and call Governor Snyder and ask that he veto these bills if they reach his desk. Hold him to his word and remind him that RFRA hurts Michigan families.
[Image credit: tobbo via Pixabay.]
