Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has rejected a measure sought by gay rights groups aimed at keeping private agencies from using sexual orientation as a basis for denying someone the opportunity to apply to become an adoptive or foster parent. The state board of social services does not have the authority to adopt proposed nondiscrimination regulations for adoption agencies, according to Cuccinelli’s office. The regulations would bar state-licensed adoption agencies from discriminating against prospective applicants based on their sexual orientation.
But the proposed language “does not comport with applicable state law and public policy,” and, therefore, the state board lacks the authority to adopt it, according to a memo from senior Assistant Attorney General Allen Wilson.
That stance marks a departure from former Attorney General Bill Mims, who advised in December 2009 that the state board appeared to have that authority, according to the memo.
Gov. Bob McDonnell, meanwhile, has also opposed the new regulation.
“Many of our adoption agencies are faith-based groups that ought to be able to establish what their own policies are,” he recently told reporters. “Current regulations that say that you can’t discriminate on the basis of race, or color, [or] national origin I think are proper.”
Under Virginia law, married couples and single men and women, gay or straight, can adopt children, while unmarried couples cannot.
Indeed, opponents of the measure, which include the Family Foundation and the Virginia Catholic Conference, say the changes could infringe on the religious beliefs of faith-based adoption agencies.
Advocates, meanwhile, ramped up their push on Wednesday for McDonnell and the board to accept the new rules.
“The time for politics is over,” said Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “Sexual orientation plays no role whatsoever in the ability to raise children.”
Claire Guthrie Gastanaga, counsel to Equality Virginia and former chief deputy attorney general, said that at this point, the memo is merely legal advice to the board. She equated it to when Cuccinelli wrote a letter last year to state colleges last year advising them that they did not have the authority to include anti-discrimination policies based on sexual orientation, absent authorization from the General Assembly.
“We didn’t think he was right about that, and we don’t think he’s right about this,” she said.
McDonnell, though he agreed with Cuccinelli’s legal reasoning in that case, later issued a nonbinding executive directive barring discrimination in the state work force.
