Virginia is on the verge of allowing faith-based adoption and foster care agencies to refuse to place a child with homosexual parents.
The measure won preliminary approval in the Senate Tuesday and could be up for a final vote as early as Thursday. A similar version of the bill passed the House of Delegates last week.
The bill allows private adoption or foster care agencies to refuse to place a child with anyone “if such placement would conflict with the religious tenets of the agency’s sponsor.” In other words, those agencies can lawfully discriminate against homosexuals, even if they receive state money to operate, as many of them do.
“Organizations should have the opportunity to follow their own religious belief and moral convictions,” said Sen. Jeffrey McWaters, R-Virginia Beach.
Democrats attempted to push through a slew of amendments aimed at limiting the scope of the bill, including removing foster care agencies from the legislation. One senator argued that the agency could refuse to place the child with a relative who was gay or did not practice the same faith.
