The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday passed an amendment allowing taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to deny LGBTQ families the ability to adopt a child based on religious objection. The amendment appears on a funding bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education. If it remains in the final bill, the amendment would cut 15% of federal adoption funding to states and localities that penalize adoption agencies that refuse to place children in families that conflict with the agency’s “sincerely held religious beliefs or convictions.” The amendment also bars the federal government from refusing to work with adoption agencies that discriminate. The vote in the committee was 29-23, along party lines, with Rep. Scott Taylor (R-VA) the lone Republican to vote against the amendment. “House Republicans are pandering to their far-right base at the expense of LGBTQ people and children in need of a home,” said Democratic National Committee (DNC) LGBTQ Media Director Lucas Acosta. “Rather than focusing on empowering families or uniting children with their parents, Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee voted to give child welfare agencies a license to discriminate against qualified potential parents.” Acosta added, “Across the country, LGBTQ candidates are running for office and taking a stand against the Trump-GOP agenda, which seeks to roll back the progress we have made. In November, voters will stand together in the face of this bigotry and hate and elect Democrats up and down the ticket.” In addition to LGBTQ people and same-sex couples, the amendment would also impact interfaith couples, single parents, married couples in which one prospective parent has previously been divorced, or other qualified parents to whom an agency could have an objection. A big barrier to placing children with families is a lack of qualified prospective parents; having the government give contractors and subcontractors a license to discriminate, thereby limiting the pool of prospective parents for no legitimate reason, is unconscionable and an unacceptable use of taxpayer dollars. “Any Member of Congress who supports this amendment is clearly stating that it is more important to them to discriminate than it is to find loving homes for children in need,” said David Stacy, director of government affairs at the Human Rights Campaign. “Congress should be focusing on ways to help children in the child welfare system find homes rather than creating needless obstacles for prospective parents, effectively shrinking the pool of qualified folks who want to provide children with a loving home. HRC urges Congress to reject this discriminatory amendment in the final appropriations bill.” HRC recently released a report, Disregarding the Best Interest of the Child: License to Discriminate In Child Welfare Services, detailing the harm of efforts to write anti-LGBTQ discrimination by child welfare agencies into law. Statistics suggest that an estimated two million LGBTQ adults in the U.S. are interested in adoption, but the LGBTQ community often remains an untapped resource when it comes to finding families for children and youth in foster care. “Taxpayer dollars should never be used to promote discrimination against any American, LGBTQ or otherwise,” said Kasey Suffredini, president of strategy at Freedom for All Americans. “It’s shocking to see some lawmakers willing to hurt not only LGBTQ Americans, but vulnerable children waiting for forever homes. This is just the latest example that discrimination against LGBTQ Americans is real, urgent and a detriment to all Americans – and should be cured by federal, comprehensive protections as soon as possible.” Nine states already have laws on the books that allow child welfare agencies receiving taxpayer funding to discriminate against LGBTQ youth and families – Alabama, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia. Five of those bills have passed in the last two years. According to data from the Family Equality Council’s Every Child Deserves a Family campaign, more than 21,000 youth were awaiting adoption in these states. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday, July 12, in Dumont v. Lyon, a challenge to Michigan’s law that allows state-funded adoption agencies to cite religion as a reason for turning away foster parents or adoptive parents based on their sexual orientation. Research consistently shows that LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in the foster care system, as many have been rejected by their families of origin because of their LGBTQ status, and are especially vulnerable to discrimination and mistreatment while in foster care. This type of amendment will only exacerbate these challenges faced by LGBTQ young people. UPDATE: Here is a link to the specific amendment’s text (See Page 29) UPDATE: This measure has failed in the House.<doc-sep>Civil rights organizations have been racing into action to stop an amendment to a federal spending bill would allow child welfare agencies, even those that receive government funds, a “license to discriminate” against prospective parents who offend their religious beliefs. The amendment was voted into the bill by the U.S. House Appropriations Committee this week, with the vote coming out 29-23 along party lines. Scott Taylor of Virginia was the only Republican to vote against the amendment. LGBT and other civil rights organizations have since been focused on making sure this amendment does not make its way into the final bill by starting campaigns, reaching out to constituents, and publicizing how dangerous the amendment is to LGBT parents as well as kids looking for homes. “We have been working extremely actively both on the national level and in the states to fight this effort. It’s really, really important for people to immediately call their representatives and senators and say this must be stripped out of any House Appropriations Bill and must not be added to any Senate Appropriations Bill,” said Julie Kruse (pictured above, left) of the Family Equality Council. “This is a poison pill amendment. It is an authorization bill that has no business being in an appropriations bill. It needs to come out of the House and stay out of the Senate and stay out of any final bill. It’s extremely dangerous.” The Family Equality Council has partnered with organizations such as Lambda Legal, PFLAG, and Voice for Adoption to create the Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign. The campaign is over 400 members strong and is working with LGBT and other civil rights organizations as well as businesses to fight this amendment on the state and federal level. “This has actually been floated in other bills, and whenever we’ve heard of it we’ve been able to shut it down. But this one was done very sneakily, very last-minute. So we’re gonna have to continue fighting it now,” Kruse said. Other organizations have recognized the danger of this amendment and seek to inform members of Congress of the extent of discrimination the amendment would allow. “At this point in the appropriations bill process, HRC is working with a coalition of organizations — including child welfare advocates — to educate members of Congress on the truly harmful impact this license to discriminate would have,” said Stephen Peters (above, center), senior national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign. “If the amendment remains in the final bill, it would grant a ‘license to discriminate’ in the provision of child welfare services, allowing child welfare placing agencies using taxpayer money to turn away qualified prospective parents — including LGBTQ couples, interfaith couples, and more — for reasons that have nothing to do with the best interest of the child in need. It's absolutely imperative that members of Congress reject this discriminatory amendment and not include it in the final appropriations bill.” Organizations such as the Natioanl LGBTQ Task Force are also working with members of Congress to make sure this bill does not progress any further while it includes the discriminatory language. “The Task Force takes these anti-equality bills very seriously,” said Alex Morash, media and public relations director. “We are talking with our allies in Congress. We are asking the tens of thousands of faith leaders and Task Force supporters to join us in urging congressional leaders to stop this antifamilies bill,” Should the amendment make its way into the final bill, more than just LGBT children and prospective parents are put at risk. And as the language in this bill is broader than that of any laws that condone discrimination on the state level, some fear that it will include discrimination based on marital status, allowing organizations to turn away single parents looking to adopt. Since 28 percent of prospective parents looking to adopt from the foster care system are single — and that number is higher in minority communities — experts fear there will be a racial aspect to this condoned discrimination. The bill also may allow parents to force their religious practices on children who do not share their beliefs and even subject LGBT kids to conversion therapy. “We’re talking about undermining many, many kinds of protections, and discrimination not just based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but also on religion, for children or parents, and definitely on marital status,” Kruse said. Grassroots organizations such as the Center for Action Network, a coalition for LGBT community centers based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., are using their resources to reach out to constituents in the hope of making change. “The ones [congressmen and senators] pay most attention to are their constituents, so we want to energize those groups back at home to take action and make their voice very loud and clear that this is not OK,” said Terry Stone (above, right), a representative of the coalition. “Discrimination like this hurts all of us.” The network has been working with over 200 centers and communicating with its 100,000 subscribers to make sure that constituents are raising their voices. “It’s going to take all of us working together and raising our voices to tell our Congress folks that this is not right and it’s not OK to discriminate, and we need to do all we can to create new, loving families for those who are looking for ways to be adopted,” Stone said. Activists say action against this bill is crucial, as its passage would encourage efforts to discriminate against LGBT people on several other fronts. “For our opponents, this is the beginning. This is a wedge issue that they found some leverage on,” Kruse said. “They start with adoption, but they want to strip us of marriage equality and get us to what [Supreme Court Justice Ruth] Bader Ginsburg called ‘marriage equality lite.’ And they want government-funded services that don’t have to serve people of certain religions, don’t have to serve gay people, don’t have to serve transgender people, don’t have to serve single people. And that’s the scary part of this. We need to stop it here.<doc-sep>Despite having President Biden in the White House and Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress, efforts to update federal civil rights laws to strengthen the prohibition on discrimination against LGBTQ people by passing the Equality Act are all but dead as opponents of the measure have contorted it beyond recognition. Political willpower is lacking to find a compromise that would be acceptable to enough Republican senators to end a filibuster on the bill — a tall order in any event — nor is there the willpower to force a vote on the Equality Act as opponents stoke fears about transgender kids in sports and not even unanimity in the Democratic caucus in favor of the bill is present, stakeholders who spoke to the Blade on condition of anonymity said. In fact, there are no imminent plans to hold a vote on the legislation even though Pride month is days away, which would be an opportune time for Congress to demonstrate solidarity with the LGBTQ community by holding a vote on the legislation. If the Equality Act were to come up for a Senate vote in the next month, it would not have the support to pass. Continued assurances that bipartisan talks are continuing on the legislation have yielded no evidence of additional support, let alone the 10 Republicans needed to end a filibuster. “I haven’t really heard an update either way, which is usually not good,” one Democratic insider said. “My understanding is that our side was entrenched in a no-compromise mindset and with [Sen. Joe] Manchin saying he didn’t like the bill, it doomed it this Congress. And the bullying of hundreds of trans athletes derailed our message and our arguments of why it was broadly needed.” The only thing keeping the final nail from being hammered into the Equality Act’s coffin is the unwillingness of its supporters to admit defeat. Other stakeholders who spoke to the Blade continued to assert bipartisan talks are ongoing, strongly pushing back on any conclusion the legislation is dead. Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said the Equality Act is “alive and well,” citing widespread public support he said includes “the majority of Democrats, Republicans and independents and a growing number of communities across the country engaging and mobilizing every day in support of the legislation.” “They understand the urgent need to pass this bill and stand up for LGBTQ people across our country,” David added. “As we engage with elected officials, we have confidence that Congress will listen to the voices of their constituents and continue fighting for the Equality Act through the lengthy legislative process. We will also continue our unprecedented campaign to grow the already-high public support for a popular bill that will save lives and make our country fairer and more equal for all. We will not stop until the Equality Act is passed.” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), chief sponsor of the Equality Act in the Senate, also signaled through a spokesperson work continues on the legislation, refusing to give up on expectations the legislation would soon become law. “Sen. Merkley and his staff are in active discussions with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to try to get this done,” McLennan said. “We definitely see it as a key priority that we expect to become law.” A spokesperson Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who had promised to force a vote on the Equality Act in the Senate on the day the U.S. House approved it earlier this year, pointed to a March 25 “Dear Colleague” letter in which he identified the Equality Act as one of several bills he’d bring up for a vote. Despite any assurances, the hold up on the bill is apparent. Although the U.S. House approved the legislation earlier this year, the Senate Judiciary Committee hasn’t even reported out the bill yet to the floor in the aftermath of the first-ever Senate hearing on the bill in March. A Senate Judiciary Committee Democratic aide, however, disputed that inaction as evidence the Equality Act is dead in its tracks: “Bipartisan efforts on a path forward are ongoing.” Democrats are quick to blame Republicans for inaction on the Equality Act, but with Manchin withholding his support for the legislation they can’t even count on the entirety of their caucus to vote “yes” if it came to the floor. Progressives continue to advocate an end to the filibuster to advance legislation Biden has promised as part of his agenda, but even if they were to overcome headwinds and dismantle the institution needing 60 votes to advance legislation, the Equality Act would likely not have majority support to win approval in the Senate with a 50-50 party split. The office of Manchin, who has previously said he couldn’t support the Equality Act over concerns about public schools having to implement the transgender protections applying to sports and bathrooms, hasn’t responded to multiple requests this year from the Blade on the legislation and didn’t respond to a request to comment for this article. Meanwhile, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who declined to co-sponsor the Equality Act this year after having signed onto the legislation in the previous Congress, insisted through a spokesperson talks are still happening across the aisle despite the appearances the legislation is dead. “There continues to be bipartisan support for passing a law that protects the civil rights of Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Annie Clark, a Collins spokesperson. “The Equality Act was a starting point for negotiations, and in its current form, it cannot pass. That’s why there are ongoing discussions among senators and stakeholders about a path forward.” Let’s face it: Anti-LGBTQ forces have railroaded the debate by making the Equality Act about an end to women’s sports by allowing transgender athletes and danger to women in sex-segregated places like bathrooms and prisons.<doc-sep>An amendment to protect the religious freedom of adoption providers was passed by the House Appropriations Committee to be part of the fiscal year 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill in a vote Wednesday. “What occurred today is a milestone,” Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., said in a statement provided to The Daily Signal. “Over the course of five years and three Congresses, we’ve been fighting to advance the Inclusion Act against incredible obstacles,” Kelly added. “Now, it’s finally going to see its day on the floor of the People’s House. This is a win for the entire faith-based child welfare provider community and, most importantly, all the innocent children they serve who are waiting for forever homes.” The amendment, which passed the committee in a 29-23 vote, would keep child welfare service providers from being discriminated against due to their moral and religious convictions. Today my colleagues and I of the @HouseAppropsGOP passed my amendment which prohibits the discrimination of child welfare providers based on religious beliefs or moral convictions. — Rep. Robert Aderholt (@Robert_Aderholt) July 11, 2018 “Faith-based adoption agencies are under attack from left-wing activist groups looking to shut down child-welfare providers that place children according to sincerely held religious and moral beliefs,” Heritage Action for America, the lobbying affiliate of The Heritage Foundation, said in a statement supporting the measure. “In Massachusetts, Illinois, California, D.C., and Philadelphia, adoption agencies such as Catholic Social Services have lost contracts with local governments or have been forced to shut down entirely because they operate on the belief that a child should be placed in a home with one mom and one dad,” the statement added. Reps. Kelly, Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., and chairman of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Tom Cole, R-Okla., led efforts to include the measure as an amendment to the fiscal 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. Proud to support my colleague @Robert_Aderholt in today’s @HouseAppropsGOP markup. He offered an amendment to ensure faith-based adoption & foster care providers are not discriminated against for their religious beliefs. I agree, we must protect religious freedom. — Chuck Fleischmann (@RepChuck) July 11, 2018 Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., said in a statement provided to The Daily Signal that areas like Philadelphia, which announced in March that it stopped using Catholic Social Services’ foster care program because it declined to place children with same-sex couples, are infringing on the religious liberties of Americans: It is abhorrent that jurisdictions like Philadelphia, which are all too willing to provide sanctuary for criminal illegal aliens who threaten our community safety, openly discriminate against religious organizations that provide valuable charitable services to a community. In fact, they apply a religious litmus test on those organizations in clear violation of the First Amendment. The passage of this amendment is a win for religious freedom and for children who need loving homes. Kelly, the Pennsylvania lawmaker, also cited Philadelphia as a warning sign and reason why the lack of tolerance for beliefs on marriage and family must be protected: What has happened in Philadelphia and elsewhere should appall anyone who cares not only about the safety and well-being of kids but also the future of religious liberty. Like so many other cases, this is not a fight that conservatives or the faith-based community started but it is one that we’re ready to win. The left’s faith-shaming cannot be permitted to close the doors of one more adoption or foster care center in our country. For all the parents and providers who have been targeted and bullied by activists both inside and outside of government, today’s passage is a sign of hope. Ryan T. Anderson, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation and author of “Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom,” told The Daily Signal in an email that the move to protect child welfare service providers is critical to protecting religious freedom for all:<doc-sep>
House Republicans advanced an amendment that would protect the federal funding of adoption agencies that refuse to work with same-sex couples on religious grounds. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, proposed the amendment as part of a funding bill for the Departments of Health, Labor and Education. It was passed nearly along party lines with only one Republican, Rep. Scott Taylor of Virginia, not voting in its favor. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., arrives for a closed-door GOP meeting in the basement of the Capitol as the Republican leadership tries to reach a policy agreement between conservatives and moderates on immigration, in Washington on June 7, 2018. J. Scott Applewhite / AP file “The Federal Government, and any State or local government that receives Federal funding for any program that provides child welfare services,” the amendment states, “shall not discriminate or take an adverse action against a child welfare service provider on the basis that the provider has declined or will decline to provide, facilitate, or refer for a child welfare service that conflicts with, or under circumstances that conflict with, the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions.” If states and localities do “discriminate” against these agencies, the amendment permits the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to withhold “15 percent of the federal funds the state or local government receives for a program that provides child welfare services.” Rep. Aderholt said the amendment addresses “two serious problems currently facing our nation.” “First, the current opioid epidemic has caused the number of children in foster care across America to skyrocket,” Aderholt said in a statement. “Secondly, several states and localities across the country are not allowing religious organizations, such as Catholic Charities and Bethany Christian Services, to operate child welfare agencies. The reason for this is simply because these organizations, based on religious conviction, choose not to place children with same-sex couples.” Aderholt argued that the amendment would “encourage states to include all experienced and licensed child welfare agencies so that children are placed in caring, loving homes where they can thrive. We need more support for these families and children in crisis, not less.” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, slammed the amendment and called it a “sickening new low” for Republicans. “House Republicans chose to sacrifice the well-being of little children to push a bigoted, anti-LGBTQ agenda, potentially denying tens of thousands of vulnerable children the opportunity to find a loving and safe home,” Pelosi said in a statement. “House Democrats will fight this disgusting, deeply immoral and profoundly offensive effort with all our strength. There is no place for bigotry or discrimination in our foster and adoption systems – or in any part of our democracy.” Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a national LGBTQ advocacy organization, said the amendment would have a “sweeping, harmful impact in child welfare services” and would enable discrimination against “LGBTQ people, same-sex couples, interfaith couples, single parents, married couples in which one prospective parent has previously been divorced, or other qualified parents to whom an agency has an objection.” “Any Member of Congress who supports this amendment is clearly stating that it is more important to them to discriminate than it is to find loving homes for children in need,” David Stacy, HRC’s director of government affairs, told NBC News. “Congress should be focusing on ways to help children in the child welfare system find homes rather than creating needless obstacles for prospective parents, effectively shrinking the pool of qualified folks who want to provide children with a loving home.” Brian Rell, a spokesperson for Rep. Aderholt, insisted the amendment is not about excluding same-sex couples from adoption, but rather including as many providers as possible. “If you have religious beliefs that preclude you from placing [a child] in a same-sex home, then you’re not precluded from participating in the process,” he said of the adoption amendment. Rell said the amendment is not “anti-gay” and emphasized nothing in it prohibits LGBTQ people from adopting or fostering a child. “If you are a same sex couple, you can go to a different agency and adopt there,” he said. The ACLU “strongly opposes the amendment,” Ian Thompson, a senior legislative representative for the national civil rights organization, told NBC News “It places the religious and moral beliefs of certain service providers above the actual needs of children,” Thompson argued.