GOP amendment would bring nationwide ban on LGBTQ adoption

The national Republican Party may vote on an amended measure that would bar all gay, lesbian, and other community members from adopting children.

The Appropriations Committee of the House of Representatives passed an amendment last Wednesday, July 11.

The add-on would given  agencies funded by taxpayers the option to deny all LGBTQ families the chance to adopt children, based solely on purported religious objections.

The amendment was tacked onto a funding bill.

The bill in question was designed to allocate money for the Trump Administration’s Departments of Labor, of Health and Human Services, and of Education. Its passage is crucial to the smooth functioning of government.

If the amendment remains in the final bill, it will officially gut 15 percent of adoption funding on the national level, pursuant to enacting anti-LGBTQ policy.

According to LGBTQ Nation, “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.”

Kasey Suffredini, a president of strategy at the advocacy group Freedom for All Americans, was quoted as saying that taxpayer dollars should not be given to promote discriminatory policies.

Suffredini noted that it was “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.”

The amendment would also punish mixed-faith couples (and single parents, and married couples) where one of the parents has been divorced previously.

Lack of qualified prospective adoptive parents is one of the most significant and enduring stumbling-blocks to placing children in homes. Giving the government power to discriminate without reason severely drains the possible field of prospective parents, officials say.