Oklahoma set to allow adoption agencies to discriminate against LGBT+

A new discriminatory bill in Oklahoma is steadily gaining traction on its way to becoming law. SB 1140 will allow child-placement agencies that do not receive government funding to openly discriminate against potential foster parents who “violate the agency’s written religious or moral convictions or policies.”

The new law would allow these agencies to refuse placement of children with single mothers and interfaith couples, though critics say this bill is aimed squarely at LGBT+ parents.

Representative Collin Walk said it is “nothing more than the modern 21st-century version of Jim Crows laws.”

While Representative Forrest Bennett asked: “If you didn’t intend to discriminate against same-sex couples with this bill, why did you run (the bill)?”

The bill passed the House of Representatives by a huge 60-25 margin. It now returns to the Senate for final consideration.

Oklahoma currently has 10,000 children in the foster system, many of them desperately need loving families to take them in. GLAAD’s Zeke Stokes said this is “heartless and un-American,” and that “no qualified parent should be turned away from adoption or foster agencies simply because they are LGBTQ.”

Tim Gibson - myGwork

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