Virginia Lawmakers Introduce Competing LGBT Adoption Bills

After the Virginia Board of Social Services dismantled adoption anti-discrimination protections based on personal factors—including sexual orientation—the state’s first openly gay senator countered with the opposite: A bill that would prevent the state from funding or contracting with adoption agencies that discriminate.

“Adoption is a public act that goes through state courts, and no government agent should engage in discrimination,” Sen. Adam Ebbin said last week.

This discrimination is not unknown in Virginia. When Joy Cobb and her wife wanted to adopt their son in 2005, they hit a wall with the conservative Loudoun County’s Foster Care & Adoption Program. 

“We went through the entire process because we wanted to adopt him out of foster care, and we were told ‘Your chances of getting a child in this county are slim to none,’ ” Cobb told Campus Progress.

The committee that handled her request, she said, was appointed by the County Board of Supervisors and unrestricted by laws against discrimination. While Cobb and her wife eventually moved their request to a more tolerant municipality and their adoption was successful, the discrimination they faced in Loudoun still frustrates her today.

While Virginia’s laws don’t expressly prohibit gay couples from adopting children, they may soon allow state-funded adoption agencies to discriminate.

Sen. Jeffrey McWaters and Del. Todd Gilbert have introduced Senate Bill 349 and House Bill 189, both of which directly oppose Ebbin’s and would allow agencies to deny placements of children based on religious convictions. These bills would codify the Board of Social Services guidelines and grant organizations the unrestricted ability to prevent LGBT parents from adopting children.

Gilbert justified his sponsorship of the bill with concerns over religious freedom for anti-gay faiths, though adoption programs in Virginia receive state funding and licensure—raising questions about taxpayer funding for religion-based discrimination.

A hearing on the pro-discrimination bills was scheduled for Friday morning. Cobb and others said they are hopeful that Virginia legislators will side with Ebbin, though social conservatives made major gains in the state legislature last year.

“[With these bills,] the state is giving them a stamp of approval to pick and choose who they want to have these kids, whether we're found to be competent or not,” Cobb said.“If you want a chance to discriminate because you're some sort of religious institution—you know what? It's America, you can do that, but don't take my tax dollars to do that.

Shay O'Reilly is a staff writer with Campus Progress. Follow him on Twitter @shaygabriel.

Related Stories

• Handful of Colorado Lawmakers Stonewall Civil Unions Bill
• VIDEO: President Obama’s Announcement and What’s Next for Marriage Equality
• GRAPHIC: What Obama Said on Gay Marriage
• As North Carolina Amends Constitution to Ban Gay Marriage, Obama Speaks Out
• BREAKING: President Obama Announces Support For Gay Marriage