Texas governor signs legislation enabling taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to refuse LGBT families

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has signed into law a House bill – which forbids government agencies or contractors from taking “adverse action” against an agency that “has declined or will decline to provide, facilitate, or refer a person for child welfare services that conflict with, or under circumstances that conflict with, the provider’s sincerely held religious beliefs.”

via Pride Source

Many child placement agencies are religious institutions, such as Catholic adoption agencies. Under the new law, these agencies could be free to deny placement to an LGBT family — or Jewish people, Muslims and single parents — based on religious beliefs.

Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of GLAAD, criticized Abbott in a statement for signing the legislation on the basis it will block children from being placed in homes.

“Lawmakers used religion as a weapon to pass a bill that not only harms qualified candidates who want to start families, but children,” Ellis said. “This law was never about the best interests of Texans or of children, but about forwarding a political agenda to codify the permission to discriminate against LGBTQ Texans into state law. Discrimination has won in Texas, and it saddens me that a child can now be denied the chance to live with a deserving family simply because they are LGBTQ.”