Taking the state backward. Again.
Every year, there are around 3,000 kids in Michigan who become eligible for adoption from foster care.
The Michigan GOP would rather these kids stay in foster care than be adopted by loving gay or lesbian parents. In addition to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act Amy has been covering so well, the Michigan House yesterday passed a law giving adoption agencies permission to discriminate against gay or lesbian families in adoption (I’m sorry, allow adoption agencies to “object on moral or religious grounds”). This is even though they receive taxpayer dollars, and even if such an adoption would be in the best interest of the child.
Go look at the faces of these Michigan kids available for adoption and tell me this doesn’t break your heart.
In Washington, DC, where we used to live, the Child and Family Services Agency actively reaches out to LGBT couples to encourage them to consider adopting from foster care – because the goal is getting kids into homes, not protecting the bigotry (sorry, “sincerely held religious beliefs”) of religious leaders. That Michigan is going out of its way to take the opposite approach is seriously disheartening. I take it personally as a lesbian, but even more as someone who cares about the most vulnerable kids in our state.
So call your Senators and tell them not to vote for this mean-spirited legislation, and call the Governor and ask him not to sign it. Kids are counting on you.
[Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog]
