SB 375 would allow taxpayer-funded adoption and foster care providers to discriminate against LGBTQ parents and youth in care.
For Immediate Release –March 1, 2018
NEW YORK — Family Equality Council calls on Georgia lawmakers to stop playing politics with the lives of youth in the child welfare system and reject SB 375, a license to discriminate bill that would allow taxpayer-funded adoption and foster care providers to discriminate against LGBTQ parents and youth in care.
SB 375 has already passed the Georgia Senate, and will now be considered by the House. Family Equality Council joins with Georgia Equality and Georgia Unites Against Discrimination in calling for all Georgia residents to take action, joining this afternoon’s rally outside the state Capitol, or by contacting their lawmakers.
“Seven states have already passed legislation allowing adoption and foster care agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ children, youth and qualified prospective parents — and now we must avoid Georgia becoming the eighth,” said Denise Brogan-Kator, Chief Policy Officer of Family Equality Council, “These ‘license to discriminate’ laws hurt all children waiting for a forever home by reducing the pool of potential parents. There are currently 14,000 kids in Georgia’s child welfare system, and SB 375 would make it harder for those children to find loving, permanent homes.”
Family Equality Council leads the national Every Child Deserves a Family Campaign, bringing together a broad coalition of organizations from across the political spectrum, including child welfare organizations, child welfare professionals, advocacy and civil rights organizations, and current and former foster youth with lived experience in the child welfare system. Campaign members are united in the belief that no otherwise qualified foster or adoptive parent should be turned away due to their marital status, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
About Family Equality Council
Family Equality Council advances legal and lived equality for LGBTQ families, and for those who wish to form them, through building community, changing hearts and minds, and driving policy change. Family Equality Council believes every LGBTQ person should have the right and opportunity to form and sustain a loving family, regardless of who they are or where they live.